Memorial Sketches. 
. Rev. Geo. B. Atwell 



Pearls for the Poor. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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Aged 85 Years. 



MEMORIAL SKETCHES 
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Rev, George B. Atwell, 



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" For memory is immortal.' 



HARTFORD, COXX. : & 
Press of The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 
1880. 






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Copyright, 1880. 



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('the library. 




TO THE PERSONAL FRIENDS 

OF HIM WHO 

i 

"Being Dead, yet Speaketh" 

'through memories of a life in which 

(^hatjity and Lova 

Were Made a Living Reality, 

THIS VOLUME 

IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY 

DEDICATED. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 
Ancestry, 7 

CHAPTER II. 

Influence, . . . . . . . .17 

CHAPTER III. 
Development, 27 

CHAPTER IV. 
Seed-time, • • 37 

CHAPTER V. 
Harvest, 45 

CHAPTER VI. 
Incidents, 53 

CHAPTER VII. 
Tributes, 59 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Pleasant Valley, ... 69 

CHAPTER IX. 

Utterances, 83 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 

Pearls, . . , - . . . '. - .89 

CHAPTER XL 

Separation, 129 

CHAPTER XII. 
Autumn, . ... 135 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Fraternity, .......... 161 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Indian Summer, 167 

CHAPTER XV. 
Burial, .-.'... 183 



MEMORIAL SKETCHES. 



CHAPTER I. 

ANCESTRY. 

In the days of the Revolutionary struggle, there 
lived in New London county, Conn., a farmer whose 
name was Benjamin At well, and whose wife was the 
daughter of one Col. Lee. They were grandparents of 
George Benjamin Atwell, the subject of these sketches. 
In religious faith they were rigid Presbyterians, and 
their history shows that they were brave and loyal 
citizens. 

Benjamin Atwell was six feet two inches in height, 
and was, for a time, one of Washington's life guard. At 
the burning of New London by Benedict Arnold in 
1 78 1, he became aware of the intended attack, and was 
another " Paul Revere," riding through the night and 
stopping at each house with endeavor to alarm and 
rouse the people. His wife was a royal woman, tender 
and gentle-hearted, yet remarkable for her fortitude and 
courage. Many stories are told of her to illustrate this, 
one of which will suffice for our purpose. 



8 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

During her husband's absence in the army, the fam- 
ily, in common with the people in the neighborhood, 
were living in constant fear of the Hessians, who were 
in the habit of making raids into the surrounding 
country, burning and plundering without restraint or 
scruple. In course of time, provisions were needed for 
family use, and the only way to get them was to go 
herself. She saddled her horse, rode fifteen miles and 
obtained the needed supplies, but was told that it would 
be impossible for her to return in safety, for the Hes- 
sians were in the immediate vicinity. Her anxiety 
about her family at home was extreme ; stay she could 
not, go she must. She waited till night-fall, and chose 
a longer and less frequented road, which would take her 
across a river, and through a dense forest known as 
" Witch Woods" — a dark and fearful place. It was 
dark when she reached the river, a storm was gather- 
ing, and the bridge was gone ! Her horse was heavily 
laden, yet she urged him on. He plunged in, swam 
across, and landed his burdens safely on the opposite 
bank. In the depths of Witch Woods she was over- 
taken by a violent thunder-storm, and only found her 
way out by the flashes of lightning. She reached home 
at last, and was grateful and overjoyed to find her family 
safe. After caring for her faithful horse, she bolted 
doors and windows, gathered her children about her, 
prayed with them, and after putting them to bed, she 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 9 

prepared to watch through the night and meet as best 
she could whatever trouble might come. Towards 
morning, a solitary and forlorn-looking man approached 
the house and called for admittance. Convinced that 
he was not an enemy, but probably an American soldier, 
she opened the door. He asked for food, and his voice 
startled her, but it was difficult for her to believe that 
it was indeed her husband, he was so changed by the 
hardships of war. Then the fortitude which had sus- 
tained her through the perils of the day utterly forsook 
her, and she could do nothing but weep. 

The hopes of this father and mother were centered 
in their son George, who at the age of eighteen was a 
promising young man, with more than the common 
education of those times. He had been very strictly 
reared in the religious faith of his parents, and was 
considered a member of the ''standing order/' whose 
creed ignored special religious experiences. He be- 
came, however, a very gay young gentleman, — a con- 
sequence, perhaps, of his rigid early training. But the 
reaction spent itself, and the seed sown in childhood 
was not lost. It sprang up and bore fruit an hundred 
fold, although in quite a different way from what was 
expected. 

During a period of school-teaching, he was brought 
under the preaching of Elder Zadok Darrow, the Baptist 
preacher of New London. Deep conviction seized upon 
2 



io MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

him, followed by bright evidence and assurance of heir- 
ship. New light and life fired him with zeal. He 
embraced the views of the denomination, and we find 
him in middle life a Baptist clergyman, ordained accord- 
ing to the custom of the times as an evangelist, and 
doing duty as a pioneer, fighting the battles against the 
spirit of intoleration that still lingered and lived in 
Connecticut. At that time no Baptist could hold an 
office of state, and Baptist clergymen were by law dis- 
qualified to officiate at a marriage ceremony. No 
judge, sheriff, nor even a justice of the peace could be 
found throughout the denomination, and they were 
completely in the power of their oppressors. Mr. 
Atwell, fearless in behalf of the right, dared to unite in 
marriage two members of his own society. He was 
prosecuted, tried, convicted, and suffered the penalties 
of the law. He was also persecuted in many and vari- 
ous ways for his courage and earnestness in- his evan- 
gelical labors, whereby he helped to open a way for the 
recognition of the rights and liberties of the denomina- 
tion. That blessed time, however, he was destined 
not to see with earthly eyes, for it was not until after 
his death that perfect religious liberty was constitution- 
ally established in Connecticut. 

In consequence of carrying out his convictions of 
duty, regardless of obstacles, his temporal affairs be- 
came deeply involved, and this state of things, in those 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. u 

days of stringent laws, wielded as they were by the 
hands of enemies, brought upon himself and his family 
a train of distresses that even at this distant day are 
painful to dwell upon. Still he labored with varied yet 
marked success. There was no half-way work about 
the man, and nothing could come between him and his 
chosen work of planting of churches and saving of souls. 
He is reputed to have been a powerful and successful 
preacher, and his diary, parts of which have been pre- 
served, tells the story of continued and arduous labor. 
He was intimate with Elder John Leland, and no doubt 
imbibed some of his spirit and zeal. He was often a 
great physical sufferer, and has been known to be lifted 
above all knowledge of his pain by mere excitement of 
feeling. Once, on the occasion of a prayer-meeting at 
his house, he was confined to his bed by a painful 
illness. He listened to the praying and singing until 
he could contain himself no longer, when he arose from 
his bed, appeared among them, and prayed w T ith an 
unction that was not soon forgotten. 

. These meetings were a power in the community, 
sometimes earnest and solemn, and at others a very 
jubilee of praise. They were frequented by the older 
persons of the neighborhood, and many of the hymns 
sung had been handed down from a former generation, 
and were outbreathings of the religious spirit of now 
nearly two centuries ago. With healing and consolation 



12 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

upon their wings, they seem to have borne the sorrows 
and aspirations of the oppressed and persecuted Chris- 
tians of the early time. 

Among our childhood recollections of our father is 
the singing of some of these quaint old lyrics that his 
remarkable memory retained from his earliest remem- 
brance. He learned them a four-year-old boy, being 
put to bed in an adjoining room, where he could listen 
to and take in all the exercises of these notable evening 
gatherings. One ancient carol, in particular, remains 
in sacred memory, for sitting upon " fathers knee," 
many a twilight hour has been whiled away under its 
inspiration. To the ordinary reader it presents neither 
rhyme nor rhythm, but the old-fashioned singing lent 
it wings and music. With each succeeding stanza, it 
gathers to itself force and expression, until one refrain 
seems to roll in upon another to be borne aloft upon 
the rapture of the closing chorus. The following is a 
specimen : 

On a feast day of ancient time, 

Jesus stood and cri-ed, 

If any — any — any man thirst, 

Let them come to me and drink, 

And save their souls from dying ! 

For nothing — nothing — nothing else surely can 

Quench the immortal thirst 

That in your hearts are glowing ! 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 13 

Come and taste the streams of love 
That are so freely flowing, 
Saying, Drink, my love, my only dove, 
For you 'tis freely flowing. 

And happy — happy — happy be, 

And happy — happy — happy be ! 

It was in such an atmosphere of prayer and praise, 
over an undercurrent of deep trouble and anxiety, that 
George B. Atwell was reared, and the influence that 
these uplifting old hymns, sung as they were, with "the 
spirit and the understanding," may have had upon the 
nature of the boy, whose memory was thus stored with 
them, can hardly be estimated. 

His mother s maiden name was Esther Rogers. She 
was a sister of Elder Peter Rogers, and was the youngest 
of six children. The family line, by means of valuable 
records, (now most unfortunately destroyed by fire,) 
is traced back directly to John Rogers, who was 
burned at the stake in Smithfield, England. Several 
sons of the martyr, to escape the persecutions that 
awaited them and the possible fate of their father, emi- 
grated to America and made themselves homes in the 
Southern States. One afterwards removed to New 
England and settled in New London, Conn., and from 
him the family directly descended. 

The " Rogers grit," as it is familiarly called, seems 
to have been transmitted without alloy through seven 



i 4 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

« 

generations to Elder Peter Rogers, whose name is 
found in Baptist annals as minister and soldier. Seven 
years' actual service in the Revolutionary war brought 
him high distinction. He first distinguished himself 
as captain of a vessel, and his achievements as a priva- 
teersman won appreciation from General Washington, 
who rewarded him with a place in his body guard. His 
personal reminiscences show the tremendous physical 
endurance of the man. He was engaged in the battle 
of Monmouth, and history records the intense heat of 
that terrible day. While his comrades were falling 
dead around him from beat and fatigue, he says of him- 
self, " I literally melted ; the fat in my system melted 
and arose in great spoonfuls in my mouth, yet I stood 
my ground"! and at Valley Forge, "At every step my 
bare and bleeding feet left blood-prints on the snow. 
I became severely ill with small-pox ; the hospital 
was crowded with sick soldiers, and the suffering was 
beyond description ; but there was not a time during 
my sickness when, if it had been necessary, I would not 
have seized my gun and stood at my post." 

His patriotic service made him a man of mark to the 
end of his days, but his life-work did not close with the 
war. Among the first Baptist ecclesiastical gatherings 
in the town of Norwich were councils for the purpose 
of ordaining " Bro. Peter Rogers as Elder" over the 
newly organized Bozrah church. His battle-scarred 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 15 

appearance and soldierly bearing made some of the 
brethren fear that he had mistaken his calling ; but his 
life and labors proved him to have been " divinely 
called," and fully justified his ordination as a minister. 
He was the first Baptist clergyman ordained in the 
town of Norwich, and the Bozrah church prospered 
under his ministry. His preaching is described* as 
"solid and instructive, and as leaving the impression of 
the speaker's sincerity and plainness rather than bril- 
liancy." He was afterward pastor in Hampton, Kil- 
lingly, and lastly of the old Leicester church in the 
Sturbridge Association. He died in Waterloo, Illinois, 
at the advanced age of ninety-nine years and nine 
months. 

* Denison's Historical Notes. 



CHAPTER II. 

INFLUENCES. 

Esther Rogers was an intellectual woman, gifted 
in prayer and conversation and endowed with literary 
tastes. She was married to Mr. Atwell in 1788, and 
proved an efficient aid to him in his ministerial work. 
Their family consisted of nine children, of whom George 
Benjamin, their eldest son, was third in number. He 
was born July 9, 1793. In a fragment of his father's 
diary we find the following mention of him : " Dec, 
1793. A mixed and bitter cup — a day of trial and 
trouble to our souls. Expected to be committed to 
prison for debt, and in the midst of my expectation our 
infant son, sitting in the cradle by the fire, fell back- 
ward into the devouring element. The physician gives 
his opinion that the child cannot continue long." He 
was considered so near unto death that the little grave 
clothes were made ready, but he was spared for a long 
life of good words and works. He always carried the 
mark of the accident, and suffered more or less from 
its results. Again the diary makes record : " Saturday, 
Feb. 12, 1803. Covenant meeting this day, and such 
a season the oldest member of this church (Saybrook) 
3 



1 8 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

never saw before. Two joined us this day ; one of them 
was my own son, not ten years old, and my mind labored 
to exercise right motives." Then comes a few words 
by his mother's hand, as follows : " During his father's 
absence, George urged me to allow him to conduct 
family worship. I did so, and he prayed like a little 
angel. How it would have charmed his father !" 

He inherited his father's impulsive temperament, 
ready sympathies, and magnetic presence, and his 
mother's martyr blood and martyr faith, ability and 
disposition for endurance of suffering or hardship with- 
out flinching or complaint. He was his mother's com- 
forter during the distressful times of prosecution and 
persecution, and then, no doubt, began the development 
of the characteristics that so individualized his whole 
after life. His delicate regard for another's feelings 
sometimes amounted to weakness, but it made him one 
of the rarest of comforters, and his very presence like 
a sustaining power. 

The little that can be gathered from his boyhood 
indicates the developing of an active and independent 
mind. When about eleven years old, for obvious 
reasons, he left his father's house to live in the family 
of a good old deacon in Saybrook. We hear of him 
from time to time as a barefoot boy, driving the cows 
to pasture, and stopping at a flat rock, with a stone for 
a pencil, to work out some mystery of old Daboll ; 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 19 

setting traps for squirrels and woodchucks ; gathering 
goose-quills for the " schoolmaster'' to shape into pens ; 
trudging to school over the snow-drifts in new, stiff 
shoes, homespun jacket, and squirrel-skin cap, but 
never an overcoat, and never knowing that he needed 
it, and studying Guthrie's Geography, in which mer- 
maids are treated as living realities, and New York 
bounded "west by unknown lands"! In school he was 
conspicuous for scholarship, attracting the attention of 
the " inspectors," and called upon to read for their en- 
tertainment whenever they made their lawful visits, and 
receiving their praise for his " remarkably plain hand- 
writing." Sometimes the "master" paid him special 
honor by requesting him to "set the copies" in the 
writing-books of other pupils, and he never quite lost a 
certain boyish pride in the fair, round penmanship that 
he retained to the last. 

Underneath this boy-life was another life, which was 
a turmoil of mental doubts and questionings. The 
words of the Bible were to him wonderful realities, — 
great, transcendent facts that his poor little life must 
ever fail to reach, and the superstitions that were inter- 
mingled with the piety of those with whom he was 
thrown in contact, were to him a source of perplexity 
and trial. Often, sitting of a winter's evening in a 
recess of the huge old fireplace, where, if he chose, he 
could look up the chimney and watch the stars, he 



20 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

would listen to the conversation of neighbors and 
friends who might chance to drop in. The talk often 
turned upon religious matters, for those were the days 
that tried men's souls, and religion was a vital point in 
practical every-day life. Sometimes the wide-awake, 
listening boy in the chimney-corner would venture a 
question or two, like a lightning flash, directly into some 
little mist of superstition, to be met with looks of 
astonishment and the remark, " What a boy ! Why do 
you ask such strange questions?" Thus thrust back 
upon himself, homesick and longing for the loving pa- 
rents who might more wisely guide him, he pondered 
these things in his heart, and, without complaint, went 
bravely on his way. 

We hear of him as a young man, ardent, impulsive, 
and quick-tempered ; straight as an arrow, lithe and 
athletic, popular among his young friends, fastidious as 
to his dress, and, in short, like his father before him, 
somewhat of a gay young gentleman. The delicate 
side of his nature, however, was in the habit of assert- 
ing itself; he liked to pay special attention to aged 
people, and although himself naturally shy and sensi- 
tive to the last degree, he made himself the defender of 
bashful boys, and at the apple-parings and quilting- 
frolics any neglected maiden might expect to find in 
him a devoted champion. He was happily free from 
unfortunate habits, and one of the satisfactions of his 



REV GEORGE B. ATJVELL. 21 

old age was the looking back upon a clear physical 
record. He often said of himself, M I never got drunk 
in my life, never swore in my life, never played cards 
in my life, never used tobacco in my life;" and the 
good old Saybrook deacon, a man of few words, said 
to him, once for all, " You was always a good boy, 
George ! " 

In the meantime his father had become the settled 
pastor of the church in Enfield. His pastorate there 
was somewhat eventful in the history of Longmeadow, 
Mass., as it was a direct result of his labors that the 
Baptist church in that town came into existence. The 
closing pages of his diary record daily visiting and 
praying with the sick and attending funerals until 
Wednesday evening, March 30th, when he preached 
his last sermon at the house of Isaiah Allen of Enfield. 
It was said of him that k * he had uncommon assistance 
in speaking, and it was very evident that his Lord and 
Master helped him close his ministry with power." 
He died on Sunday, April 10, 1S14, of a "prevailing 
fever," and eight days later his wife followed him from 
the same disease. 

These events wrought a revolution in the life of their 
eldest son. It was his first great sorrow, and in his 
loneliness and distress he sought to lay his burden upon 
his Heavenly Father, who alone could help. He seemed 
to receive an immediate answer to prayer, and it was 



22 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

on this wise : " You must preach and take your father s 
place." This was to him so direct and so vivid that 
♦ he involuntarily spoke aloud, as if face to face with a 
friend, " How can I preach with my insufficient edu- 
cation ? " 

He could not rid himself of the impression ; it fol- 
lowed and clung to him. He strove to quiet his con- 
science by taking part in prayer and conference meet- 
ings, and even by writing exhortations and placing them 
where they would be found and read, but it was of no 
avail. The command was upon him, " You must preach 
and take your fathers place" 

About this time he was providentially led into oppor- 
tunities for study, a period to which he often referred 
as one of the happiest of his life. He found a con- 
genial and intimate friend in Alanson Abbe, a young 
man who in after years became well known as a suc- 
cessful Boston physician. He had a decided taste for 
medical study, and so strongly desired to join his friend 
in that direction that the two young men began a 
course of reading together. They were studying one 
night quite late, when he threw down his books with 
the exclamation, " Alanson, this is nonsense ! God 
never designed such deadly poisons to go into the hu- 
man stomach !" 

An animated discussion followed, which lasted until 
the " small hours," and in which he brought out a 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 23 

theory of his own, that the mind could and should be 
made to act as a healing and curative power upon the 
body. 

" How ? " said his friend ; " tell me how !" 

"The brain controls the body, don't it?" was the 
reply. " I tell you, there is something there that ought 
to control disease ! " 

It was impossible for his mind to move in a beaten 
track ; strike out it must and find an orbit of its own, 
and as a consequence, there came in the course of their 
reading other sharp discussions, in which he elaborated 
his original theories, while his friend vigorously de- 
fended the authors. 

Circumstances afterward threw the two friends wide 
apart for years, but in the prime of their manhood they 
met once more, at the Baptist parsonage in Canton, 
Conn. 

Said Dr. Abbe, " George, you should have been a 
physician. It has been absolutely surprising to me how 
much of my success is due to the ideas that I got from 
you when we were young men together ; in fact, I owe 
all my celebrity to you ! " 

It may be worthy of note that these ideas, struck out 
at white heat by the youthful mind of sixty-five years 
ago, are the same in effect as are now recognized as 
common-sense laws. For instance, one of his pet the- 
ories — and it was entirely his own — was that the most 



24 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

complete rest and recreation was not found irr idleness, 
but in the exercising of another set of faculties. " Keep 
action up," was his favorite motto, and he applied it to 
his daily life. He would rarely " rest," for he was rarely 
" tired," but aimed to keep his system poised by counter- 
action without over-action. 

Here was the turning point of his life, and to human 
eyes it seems that larger opportunities for culture and 
discipline in medical study might have made him a 
blessing to the world as a " good physician," but it was 
destined not to be. He felt that he must preach, and 
circumstances conspired to lead him in that direction. 
He received encouragement from ministers and other 
Christian brethren, and the second Baptist church in 
Colchester licensed him to preach, granting him " their 
approbation of his Public Gift in Preaching the Word." 
He had been previously united in marriage to Miss 
Mary M. Tennent of Colchester, a woman whose firm 
and gentle disposition and even temperament proved a 
happy balance to her impulsive and eccentric husband, 
and whose presence was a blessing both in household 
and community. He received a call from Longmeadow 
to become pastor of the church organized by his father, 
and was the first Baptist minister ordained in that 
town. 

He could not at once give up his medical reading, 
and he was fond of testing his own theories, — sometimes 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 25 

at the risk of serious consequences. A case of small- 
pox occurred in the town, which caused general alarm. 
The patient was removed to a lonely house, the road 
leading thereto " fenced up/' and he was left to the 
mercy of an inexperienced nurse. Mr. Atwell could 
not rest. Braving the danger, he went to the house 
and administered consolation to the dying man. In 
due time he began to feel very ill. It happened on a 
Sunday, but preach he would. As he descended the 
pulpit stairs., dizzy and sick, at the close of the afternoon 
service, he was met by the village doctor with, " Elder 
Atwell, you are sick, as I expected. Get home as quick 
as you can. Here is some medicine; take it and go to 
bed, and to-morrow morning I will come and see you." 

He started on a rapid run, and when he reached 
home he was in a profuse perspiration. Throwing the 
medicine into the fire, he made use of some simple 
remedies, and went to bed. 

rning brought the friendly doctor according to 
promise. " I am glad to see you better," he said. " You 
have had all the symptoms of small-pox, but I do believe 
you will escape the sickness." 

That he did escape it, Mr. Atwell claimed was owing 
to his own will-power, which may be explained by the 
fact that, in his view, disease was a sin, and that his 
physical constitution always seemed to combat the one 
as his moral nature did the other. 
4 



CHAPTER III. 

DEVELOPMENT. 

The two years' pastorate in Longmeadow was virtu- 
ally his season of preparation for his life-work, and the 
following extracts from his journal may serve to show 
where the girding and disciplining had to begin : 

" Lord's Day. Pleasant day, full assembly, consider- 
able ease in speaking, not so much spiritual liberty as 
I could desire. Lecture 5 o'clock, rather dry, not much 
effect produced upon the minds of the people. Mon- 
day, severe conflict with Satan, followed by compunc- 
tions of conscience for former sin, succeeded by 
tranquillity of mind and strong desires after holiness. 
Tuesday morning witnessed a victory over Satan, — a 
rare thing for me. Satan could boast a slight advantage 
in an hour after his head was bruised." 

It will be seen that one of his trials was his natural 
self-consciousness. To overcome this he prayed'much, 
and we find in a private note-book a set of rules, written 
by himself, for his own guidance and^ designed for 
his own eyes alone. We intrude upon its sacred 
privacy only to make one extract, which is suggestive 



28 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

of the habit of his mind of seizing all sides of an idea 
at a grasp : 

"You wish to be great, and yet you stoop and 
tremble before the very men who ought to tremble 
before you. For trutJis sake recover from this igno- 
miny ; yet you must be sensible of your own ignorance 
and weakness, and be sure and keep low, for then you 
will be in no danger of falling." 

In this connection comes a reminiscence from a 
former pupil : " When I was a young man I was pain- 
fully bashful, and Mr. Atwell once said to me, ' There 
is no need of your suffering so much ; people don't 
care as much as you think they do !' I was indignant 
for one moment, but the next my eyes were opened, 
and I found myself immensely relieved of my self- 
consciousness, for I saw it was half egotism. " 

The distinguishing feature of Mr. Atwell's first pas- 
torate seems to have been peace-making. Two promi- 
nent men in whom he felt an interest became involved 
in a bitter quarrel. After much difficulty, he succeeded 
in bringing them together at his own house, and labored 
with them during the whole of a long evening. During 
the process of reconciliation he so presented the good 
qualities of each to the other, that both were surprised 
to see how much they had in common, and grasped 
hands in friendly sympathy, and afterwards became 
congenial and even intimate friends. 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 29 

Two pastors of churches had a grievance with each 
other which they failed to reconcile. At last, after 
much dispute and unpleasant feeling, they agreed each 
to tell their story to Mr. Atwell, and abide by his 
decision, whatever it might be. As the two clergymen 
were both older than himself, and belonged to different 
denominations, he felt himself in an embarrassing 
place. Before listening to their statements, he said, 
" I know of but one way for ministers to settle a 
dispute." 

" How is that ? " said they. 

"Do as the great peace-maker did ; let the innocent 
one bear the wrong with patience, and pray for the 
guilty one ! M 

No more could be said ; the story was not told, and 
he never even knew the nature of the trouble he so 
summarily settled. 

An unhappy estrangement occurred between a young 
husband and wife of his acquaintance, and the lady 
came to him for advice. After patiently listening to 
her story he said to her, " You should not have said 
that to your husband ; it hurt him cruelly." 

" But Mr. Atwell, he just deserved it, and I wanted 
to strike when the iron was hot !" 

" But don't you know that iron can be made hot by 
striking ? Remember, when temper grows hot, love 
grows cold ! " 



30 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

In 1824 or '25 he accepted a call to become the pas- 
tor of the church in West Woodstock. In reviewing 
his sermons of those days we find them systematically 
arranged, carefully written out, simple and direct in 
expression, enlivened by the characteristic thoughts 
that effectually redeemed them from commonplaceness. 
We give a few extracts : 

" Man is compounded of mortality and immortality, 
the dust of the ground and the breath of the Almighty. 
He fell too low for Divinity to stoop to him ; Christ 
combined Humanity and Divinity and brought them 
together." 

" We were made in God's image that we might live ; 
God made Himself in ours that He might die." 

" We are subject to death ; Death is subject to 
Christ. At the foot of Mt. Olivet is a garden. In a 
garden the image of God was lost, and in a garden 
regained. It was lost by eating pleasant fruit, and 
gained by drinking a bitter cup." 

" Christians are compounded of an outward and in- 
ward man ; both must be sanctified — the inward man 
by faith, and the outward by confession of it." 

" God came to Adam in the cool of the day ; He 
communes with His people in times of cool reflection." 

" Man makes his days evil ; God makes them few. 

" If saints have anything to boast of, sinners have 
something to complain of." 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 31 

" Patience is the opposite of Passion, and to this 
cause may be traced our troubles, and to Patience many 
of our chief joys." 

His strength, however, lay not in sermonizing. He 
was. a natural pastor, and by daily contact with a genial 
and appreciative people, his capabilities in that direction 
developed and blossomed into life. He was endowed 
with a large share of personal magnetism, and became, 
as it were, en rapport with the whole parish. They 
loved him in their homes, their fields, their schools, 
their stores, their work-shops ; and this leads us to a 
vital point in his organism, which not to consider, the 
story would be but half told. He possessed a peculiar 
insight into the natures of people, a faculty of reading 
the countenance and coming in contact with what was 
passing in their minds, by which he understood their 
character and motives, and at times, even their mental 
and moral history. What this power was, how it orig- 
inated and developed, we know not, but we know that ' 
it existed and that he turned it to wise use. We say 
wise use, because, as "a consecrated life depends upon 
unseen sources for what it is and what it gives/' this 
also must be judged by its fruits. Always used in a 
helpful and uplifting way, it was purified and sanctified 
in him, and was the secret of his influence and of his 
life mission. Hence he was a natural comforter. 
Wherever was trouble, sickness, or sorrow, there he 



32 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

might be found, binding breaking hearts with words of 
consolation, and upholding fainting spirits by the cheer 
of his presence. A few lines from a private letter, 
written by one of his most valued friends,* fitly puts 
into words the experience of many : 

" It seemed to me that Rev. Mr. Atwell's peculiarities 
were a striking originality both of thought and expres- 
sion, a charming quaintness and a delicate refinement 
that gave him the keenest instincts as a comforter, I 
used to say that Father Atwell was a born gentleman, 
and would have been one under any circumstances. 
He was our guest to my great gratification the summer 
after our little Jamie spread his bright wings and left 
us. My heart was very sore, and it is impossible to 
describe the delicate sympathy which made itself felt 
in all that good man's deportment like a soothing 
atmosphere." 

His faith was of the kind to remove mountains, for 
his personal relation to God was simple and direct as 
that of a child to a parent, and his trust in Him was 
fully as implicit, His plan of living was not readily un- 
derstood and was sometimes a source of amusement to 
certain practical minds, because his point of view was 
not entirely of this world ; but the principle that he 
made the ruling purpose of his life has since been 
largely tested and carried out upon another continent 

* Mrs. S. Emilia Phelps. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 33 

by George Muller, in his Life of Trust. It seemed 
never to occur to Mr. Atwell to doubt the goodness of 
Providence, and it may be worthy of record that it 
never failed him. 

He had the faculty of administering rebuke and 
instruction, as well as consolation. An excellent 
Christian friend had much trouble, and said to Mr. 
Atwell, " What have I done to have so much trouble ? 
I cannot feel a moment of peace. It is like being in 
hot water and boiling oil all the time. ,, 

The reply was, " Christians are like tea ; to get out 
the strength you must put it into hot water. John was 
put into boiling oil and came out well anointed for his 
work. That was the oil that filled his lamp ! " 
" But I have lost all my property." 
" So did Job, but you know it was in good hands. 
Did not God take better care of it than Job could ? " 

He was a zealous friend of Sunday-schools, and while 
in Woodstock he took an active interest in foreign mis- 
sions, and his house became headquarters for students 
and others who were preparing for the work. Mrs. 
Calista H. Vinton, of honored memory, was for a time 
an inmate of his family, and there made the acquaint- 
ance of the self-denying young student who afterwards 
became her husband. 

Mr. Atwell was especially helpful to young people. 
His forte lay in recognizing the best things in them, 
5 



34 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

and by a few timely words setting them in a way to 
endeavor and success. The following is but one in- 
stance out of many : 

A certain man had a rebellious and unpromising son, 
who was in the habit of making trouble in school, and 
under the shadow of a bad reputation was generally 
shunned and avoided. Mr. Atwell was then teaching 
in West Woodstock, and the father in despair came 
to ask him to take the boy under his care as a pupil, 
and " see if anything could be made of him." He con- 
sented, on condition that if he caused disturbance he 
should leave at once. Accordingly, one Monday morn- 
ing the new pupil made his appearance in the school- 
room. He was a full-grown, stalwart young man in 
size, with a sullen, dangerous looking face. Mr. At- 
well's first thought as he looked at him was, " His bad- 
ness does not lie deep ; it can be turned into another 
channel. " He addressed him, " Good morning Mr. 

. I am glad to have you come to my school. I 

sometimes need an assistant, and I may wish to call 
upon you." The next day he said to the school, " I am 
going out and shall be absent about an hour. I shall 

leave Mr. in charge of the school, and he will 

report your behavior to me." Then turning to the 

new scholar he said, " Mr. , will you please take 

my chair and have charge until I return ? " 

When he came in the school was orderly as usual, 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 35 

but the look upon the boy's face was like a transfigura- 
tion. To the surprise of every one, he was an obedient 
and well-behaved scholar to the end of the season, and 
the winter's experience strongly influenced his subse- 
quent course. He afterwards said to Mr. Atwell, " The 
feeling that some one could trust and respect me went 
through me like fire ! " 

Mr. Atwell's manner of teaching was original and 
unique. His former pupils tell many pleasant "tales 
out of school," and among other reminiscences are the 
" miscellaneous questions" with which he sometimes 
would close the afternoon, and for which the scholars 
would wait with sparkling eyes and expectant faces. 
One afternoon a little boy fearful of being disappointed 
cried out, "Oh, Mr. Atwell, aren't you going to ask us 
some mischievous questions ?" 

"Yes," said Mr. A., with twinkling eyes, "we will 
have some ' mischievous questions.' Which is the 
harder to bear, great sorrow and trouble of mind, or 
toothache ? " A little girl who had been a special 
sufferer piped out, "Toothache!" The laughter and 
ridicule of the school was more than she could bear, 
and Mr. Atwell carried her home sobbing in his arms. 



CHAPTER IV. 

SEED-TIME. 

Mr. Atwell left Woodstock in 1834, but absence 
and separation did not diminish the affection between 
pastor and people. It would seem like exaggeration to 
tell of the occasional visits afterwards, the brightening 
of faces, the flying up of windows with cries of " Elder, 
stop! Elder, stop!" and the greetings and reunions 
that even now are cheering and restful in their memory. 
The friends who knew and loved him well have grown 
old and passed away, and it is ever to be regretted that 
more cannot be gathered illustrative of this most de- 
lightful pastorate of his long ministerial experience. 

A former pupil furnishes a reminiscence of an effec- 
tive evening sermon from the text, " Choose ye this 
day whom ye will serve. " " Tears and sobs resounded 
through the audience, and the seed sown bore fruit in 
at least one genuine conversion, besides other good 
results that memory fails to recall." 

After leaving Woodstock he became pastor of the 
Church in Cromwell, then known as Upper Houses in 
Middletown, and remained there one year. He then 
settled in Meriden, and retained charge of the church 



38 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

until the spring of 1837. Early in that year a general 
religious awakening resulted in conversions and acces- 
sions to the Meriden churches. An extract from a 
family letter, dated March 5, 1837, shows that the 
Baptist church also shared in the blessing : 

" Our meetings are very interesting, and we feel that 
a revival has come. We have had meetings every 
evening for about three weeks, and still continue them, as 
yet with great interest. The vestry is crowded to over- 
flowing, and the school-room is opened to accommodate 
the people. To-day the anxious ones retired to the 

school-room, and there were quite a number. L 

M commenced praying for them, and one prayer 

followed another, and we felt that the Spirit of the Lord 
was there." 

While in Meriden, Mr. Atwell received calls from 
churches in Milford, Haddam, and Suffield, but his work 
awaited him in the quiet village lying in the midst of 
hills and mountains, known in the olden time as 
Suffrage y in the town of Canton, Conn. 

His first visit to Canton was at the close of a spring 
day, when he found himself in a pleasant village street, 
and conspicuous in its center was an old-fashioned 
meeting-house, without steeple, unpainted and homely, 
but gilded and glorified for the moment by the rays of 
the setting sun. The church was the oldest and had 
been one of the most influential of the denomination 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 39 

in that part of the State. It was the only Baptist 
church in the town, and its members and sympathizers 
comprised the majority of a community that reached 
over the outlying hills, and included thrifty house- 
holders and owners of thriving farms and orchards. 
There were men of means, who, by hard-wrought accu- 
mulation of cents and dollars had become rich without 
knowing it, and without knowing or fully apprehending 
the responsibilities that rightfully belong to a Christian 
church. It was a solid and stable community, self- 
dependent, and consequently with an intensely indi- 
vidual life that is rapidly going out in the march of 
Progress. There were troops of young people with 
sterling qualities of mind and heart, outgrowths of the 
New England of forty years ago, ready for the impres- 
sions and moulding that circumstance and influence 
must and will bring either for good or for ill. 

In the midst of these possibilities the pulse of the 
church beat low. The prayer-meeting was deserted, 
the Sunday-school on the eve of dissolution, and the 
lethargy that indicates the ebb of spiritual life seemed 
to have seized upon all. It was a rich field for a work- 
ing minister, and the vineyard was waiting for its 
laborer. 

Mr. Atwell preached in the old meeting-house, and 
some of the people went to hear him. He came again, 
and noticeable in the congregation was the venerable 



40 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

Dea. Elisha Case, over eighty years old and trembling 
with the infirmities of age. 

After this Mr. Atwell, with his black horse and two- 
wheeled chaise, rode over the hills and made himself 
somewhat acquainted with the people, and with this 
man of upright carriage and magnetic presence came a 
new life into their homes. Strong men began to feel 
that the best things in them had never been awakened, 
and with the unwonted stirrings came self-respect and 
aspirations for better things. Children upon his knee 
found one who knew all their troubles and could delight 
in their joys; and where the children could feel confi- 
dence mothers' hearts could rest. 

The following incident, related by a life-long friend, 
seems not out of place in this connection : 

" The first time I ever saw Mr. Atwell, I was taking 
care of a cross baby. I was worn out for want of 
rest, for the child had cried more than half the night, 
and it seemed that the more I tried to quiet it the 
louder it screamed. I was about giving it some medi- 
cine to make it sleep, when I heard a step on the porch, 
and a straight man, a stranger, stood in the door. 

'Don't do -that/ he exclaimed; Met me take the 
babe.' 

" He took the child in his arms and walked once or 
twice up and down the long kitchen ; the crying stopped, 
and it was not long before it was fast asleep. 



REV, GEORGE B. ATWELL. 41 

1 There,' said he, * is not that better than drops ? 
Never give a child medicine to quiet it. You did not 
sleep last night, and your nervousness made it irritable. 
It will wake up well.' 

"He left me wondering if an angel had dropped from 
the clouds, but I learned afterward that it was the new 
minister." 

He came and preached the third time, and a goodly 
number congregated ; unwonted faces were seen in the 
pews, and a general quickening impulse was evident. 
This was followed by a meeting of the church and 
society, which was reported to Mr. Atwell as follows : 

" Mr. Atwell, the church would like to have you 
become our pastor, but we fear that we shall not be able 
to support you." 

"Is that the only objection ?" said Mr. A. 

" That is all," was the reply. 

" Is that the unanimous expression of the church ? " 

"It is ; the only objection is the difficulty of obtain- 
ing means of support." 

" Then," said Mr. A., " I will come ; for I know you 
can support me, and I have no doubt that you will ! " 

Had this ended the negotiation, no one who knew 
him would have been surprised. Here was the work, 
and that the Good Father would take care of the rest he 
never doubted. 

So he brought his family to the little maple-shaded 
6 



42 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

parsonage, and began preaching in the old-fashioned 
meeting-house, — which may we never forget ! The 
outside doors fronting in various directions ; the square, 
high-backed pews ; the lofty, over-hanging pulpit, orna- 
mented on occasions of evening service with a pair of 
huge wooden yellow-painted candlesticks, for which 
candles of extra size must be especially made ; the long, 
quaint galleries ; the choir of comely young matrons 
led by Major D- — - with his "pitch-pipe," and the pre- 
monitory "fa, sol, la" by the singers when Rockingham, 
Dundee, China, or Old Hundred was to be rendered 
without "variations" to the waiting audience. 

In the year 1838 there occurred a powerful revival 
which seems to have been a direct result of a series of 
pointed sermons, preached first to the church, then to 
the impenitent, and from which we draw a few extracts : 

" To what has a neglect of religion brought us ? 
Read on the walls of our deserted prayer-meeting. Go 
there and exclaim with Elijah, ' I only am left !' Look 
at our Sabbath-school ! Rachel might stand and weep 
for her children. Look at the amount of our benevo- 
lence which speaks to the world how much we feel for 
missions ! Trace these dry channels to their sources and 
look at the heart ! Shrink not back ; come indeed to 
the sepulchre, but find not the body of the Lord Jesus ! 
A voice in mournful accents says, ' He is not here !" 

" God cannot look upon your life with complacency, 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 43 

nor you upon His commandments. God is opposed to 
your heart, and you to God's attributes. You are at 
war with God's justice,, and God with your injustice. 
You view God a hard master, and God views you a 
slothful servant. You think the penalty of his laws too 
severe ; God thinks that you have no right to trample 
upon His !aws all your life. I solemnly declare, in the 
name of God, a dreadful war is waged by all the perfec- 
tions of God against sin. The honor and truth of the 
King of Kings is enlisted, and truth declares in thunder 
tones thai in this war God is right and you are wrong! 
This great truth I must declare, God is right and you 
are wrong ! Oh. that I might engrave it with a sun- 
beam on every star ! Oh, that I might dip the pen in 
Heaven and write it upon your hearts, God is right and 
you are wrong /" 

" What is time but a great whirlpool swallowing up 
all things ? Around and around you are moving in 
lessening circles, and the grave is the center to which 
you tend. On its brink you stand only long enough to 
undress ; and, alas ! how often is the cradle rocked be- 
side the grave ! All you can lay up must be laid up in 
God, for all else is dreadful waste. Jesus calls you. 
Once He hung between thieves and called on God ; 
now He stands between cherubim and calls on you. 
The terms of your salvation are terms Justice never 
called for ; they are granted at Mercy's pleading voice. 



44 MEMORIAL SKETCHES. 

The means which you refuse, the terms that you reject, 
were wrung from the bleeding, dying Son of God. 
Repent now ! To-morrow death may darken your eyes 
and chill your blood Repent now ! To-morrow reason 
may be driven from its throne, and God banished from 
the heart. Repent now ! To-morrow conscience may 
become seared and impossible to move you again. 
Repent now ! To-morrow the Holy Spirit may have 
fled for ever with this tremendous record, — a crucified 
Son of God. Repent now ! To-morrow will carry you 
one day farther from God, from purity, from hope, from 
happiness, and home" 



CHAPTER V. 

HARVEST. 

The awakening was widespread, and fifty-two con- 
verts, many of them young people, among whom was 
his daughter, were baptized and united with the church. 
It has been said of Mr. Atwell, that during this Pente- 
costal season, his intuitive knowledge of the individual 
needs of those who were seeking " seemed like inspira- 
tion." To one he urged only submission. 

* Is this the way ? " was asked. " Must I make no 
effort ? " 

" This is the way for you," he would reply. 

To another he presented the full terrors of the law, 
and to another the character of Christ in its beauty and 
its tenderness. In looking over the church books and 
reading the record of names, and tracing the subse- 
quent histories as far as we know them, of those who 
were brought into the fold, it may be worthy of note 
that, with rare exceptions, all have " held to the faith," 
an argument against a prevailing idea that converts 
made in the excitement of a revival are prone to " fall 
off." 

Another test, perhaps, of the genuineness of this 



46 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

awakening, may be found in the fact that a breeze of 
opposition arose, and that upon the occasion of an 
appointment to preach at a certain school-house, a 
threat was conveyed to Mr. Atwell from some " fellows 
of the baser sort," that if he attempted to meet the 
appointment he would be " thrown into the river," He 
started at the appointed time, and as he came in sight 
of the trysting-place, he noticed several stalwart forms 
gathered together as if in waiting. We can imagine a 
little more straightening of the erect figure, and an 
extra glint of fun in the twinkle of the eye, and curves 
of the mouth, as bowing right and left, with a courteous 
" Good evening, gentlemen ! " he saluted the group, 
and drove on unmolested. 

At the meeting of the Hartford Association in 1837, 
Mr. Atwell served as chairman of the committee on 
Education, and presented an interesting report. In 
1838, he acted as assistant clerk, and was appointed 
delegate to the Ashford and New Haven Associations. 

In October, 1838, he was called to pass through a 
great affliction in the death of the daughter, whom only a 
few weeks before, he had baptized and received into the 
church. She was an interesting girl of sixteen years, 
the life and light of the home, and dear to the hearts of 
of the people. She died of a malignant fever, and to 
add to the distress, the wife and mother was pros- 
trated by the same disease, and her condition was so 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 47 

critical that she did not know when her daughter was 
buried. 

Whatever weakness Mr. Atwell, in common with 
other mortals, may have had in ordinary affairs of life, 
in times of greatest sorrow he was always strong. In a 
letter written at this time, he says : 

" She is still alive, but before this letter reaches you 
I think she will be dead. I am calm, my mind is 
stayed on God, I am perfectly reconciled ; she has told 
me that she has thought much of her Saviour, and I 
have no doubt that her spirit will be with the saints in 
light. Deacon Higley and wife are here, and the neigh- 
bors overwhelm us with kindness and sympathy." 

This but faintly expresses, and it is impossible to 
describe the sublime trust with which his whole nature 
arose to meet the new sorrow laid upon him. In dark- 
est hour he seemed to fly heavenward. What he 
received he must needs give, so the more his own heart 
was aching the more he reached out to others and gave 
himself, as if for a refuge and strong tower of comfort. 

Previous to this, Mr. Atwell had been in consultation 
with some of the members of the church, and had pro- 
posed the plan of building a new house of worship. It 
proved a heavy ball to set in motion. The matter was 
debated among them, the pros and cons duly weighed, 
and the con s bade fair to be the heavier. The sub- 
stantial and conservative members considered the recent 



48 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

financial pressure, also the wordliness and seeming 
vanity of the undertaking, while the younger portion, 
then, as now, wiser than their elders, could see no 
obstacle in the way. In course of time, however, the 
opposite forces were happily equalized, and the ball 
began to roll. Once put into action, the work went on 
apace, and before the summer ended the building was 
finished and dedicated. A private letter dated August 
30, 1839, sa Y s: 

" We have had our dedication, all harmonious and 
pleasing. Sixteen ministers present, and all seemed to 
think it the most pleasant country church they ever 
saw. We have bargained for a bell, weight eight hun- 
dred pounds, and our good people appear delighted and 
pleased." 

No one, perhaps, was more so than the veteran Dea- 
con Elisha Case. His sons were active members of the 
church, and from the beginning of the undertaking he 
had been on the side of progress. There came now to 
the good old man a proof of God's love and delight in 
gratifying the desires of his children. He had often 
been heard to say, " I want to live to see this house 
finished and dedicated, and then I am ready to die." 

The Sabbath following the dedication he was assisted 
into the pulpit and sat during the service, evidently 
listening with marked attention. He was the oldest 
man in that crowded house, and regarded by all with 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 49 

reverent affection. In a few days after this the new 
bell was raised, and its first service was to toll for his 
death. The funeral was made the occasion of a very 
impressive sermon, in which were brought out some 
facts and curious coincidences of his life, which at that 
place and time were of thrilling interest to a large con- 
course of relatives and friends. Among many others 
was, 

"Jacob's number was seventy souls when he went 
into Egypt ; Deacon Case's is eighty-four. He has 
numbered eighty-four years and God has given him 
eighty-four descendants, one for every year of his life." 

Now came flourishing and palmy days. The new 
church was filled from Sabbath to Sabbath, the Aarons 
and Hurs stayed up the pastor's hands, the prayer- 
meeting drew breath and lived again, and the Sunday- 
school once more gathered in its own. There was 
much native musical talent in the vicinity, which, under 
skilled training and leadership, culminated in a choir 
scarcely equaled by any in the State. Sacred concerts 
were given to crowded audiences, and beyond expecta- 
tion and precedent, the Baptist Society of Canton 
rode upon the top wave of prosperity and popularity. 

In 1837, M r - Atwell preached the introductory ser- 
mon before the Association, and in 1840, he served as 
Moderator and prepared the circular letter. In 1841 
he was one of the Board of managers of the Connecticut 
7 



SO MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

Baptist Sunday-school Society. In 1842 was another 
revival in Canton, and twenty-one were added to the 
church. During these five years of work and evident 
results, evening meetings at school-houses and private 
houses on the surrounding hills had been regularly 
appointed and sustained, regardless of wind and weather ; 
funerals were attended, marriages solemnized, schools 
taught, visited, and encouraged. 

This, however, is but an outline of his ministerial 
work ; it is the filling, of which only a gleaming thread 
can here and there be gathered that shows the man. 

About the year 1840, the fashion of Fourth of July 
Sunday-school celebrations became popular in Connec- 
ticut. The first one ever held in the town of Canton 
was by invitation of the Congregational church in 
Cherry Brook, when Rev. Jairus Burt was pastor, and 
the succeeding year the Baptist church in " Canton 
street" entertained a large concourse of people and 
children in a pleasant maple grove in that village. 

During the exercises a slight shower arose, and in 
the flurry of excitement that it caused, Mr. Atwell said 
to Mr. Burt, 

" We Baptists, you know, are not afraid of water ! " 

" But you don't believe in ' sprinkling/ " replied Mr. 
Burt. 

" We can accept this," said Mr. A., " it comes from 
Heaven I" 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 51 

Upon this occasion, Mr. Atwell made the welcoming 
address, and alluded to the Temperance question as 
follows : 

" Beware of that strong, blind Sampson, Alcohol ! 
Do you see him between the very pillars of our temple ? 
Are you fond of his sport ? His seven locks are 
hugely grown, let us count them ! Rum, gin, brandy, 
wine, whiskey, cider, ale ! Beware lest our Temple of 
Liberty share the fate of that at Jerusalem, when not one 
stone was left upon another which was not thrown down. 
Our efforts, like the Jewish withes and new ropes, have 
been sundered, and he has triumphantly marched 
through the land and laid us heaps on heaps." 

It was about this time that the attention of Christian 
people throughout the land was so generally aroused to 
the evils of Intemperance, and an excellent Christian 
man, who could not readily yield the associations of a 
lifetime to the pressure of the moment, came to his 
pastor and said, 

" Elder Atwell, you know that Paul said to Timothy, 
* Drink no longer water, but a little wine for your 
stomach's sake and for your often infirmities/ If that 
was lawful for Timothy, why is it not lawful for me ? " 

" Because no inspired apostle tells you to drink it. 
When that time comes, it will be lawful, but, until then, 
you had better be a water drinker, like Timothy." * 



52 MEMORIAL SKETCHES. 

" That is not quite to the point, Mr. Atwell. You 
have not answered my question." 

Said Mr. A., " You are a Christian, are you not ? " 
. " I hope I am," was the reply. 

" You think that you have experienced the grace of 
God in your heart ? " 

" I think I have." 

" Would you be willing to give it all up, and be as if 
you never had that experience ? " 

" I never could be willing," was the answer. 

" Well," said Mr. Atwell, " Temperance is to the body 
just what grace is to the soul!' 

"If that is so, why did Christ make wine at the 
marriage in Cana of Galilee ? " 

" To show that the best wine in the world comes out 
of a water-pot ! " 



CHAPTER VI. 

INCIDENTS. 

Mr. Atwell had a happy way of officiating at a wed- 
ding ceremony, and especially of disposing of shy, 
young couples quickly and without undue embarrass- 
ment, so that it was popular for such to "go to the 
minister's and be married," sometimes accompanied by 
friends and sometimes unattended. As soon as the 
ceremony was performed, he was in the habit of start- 
ing some pleasant conversation, which was calculated 
to set the parties at ease and at the same time enforce 
a salutary truth. Once he said to a bridegroom, 
" Well, sir, you are now a king ! " 

The man, in some confusion, stared as if asking an 
explanation, and Mr. Atwell went on : " Solomon says, 
'A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband,' and, 
you know, it is the crown that makes the king; but if a 
king dishonors the crown, he is unworthy the throne. 
Remember that ! " 

Upon another occasion, a company of friends came 
to witness a ceremony, and among them, a young and 
thoughtless mother, with a boy about four years old. 
Mr. Atwell was an excellent phrenologist, and passed 



54 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

his hand over the boy's head. The action caused one 
of the company to ask, " What do you think of him ? " 

He made no reply until they were about to leave, 
when he said to the mother, " Madam, educate that 
child, or Satan will 7" 

It was not long before the lady called to see him, 
and said, " Elder Atwell, the remark you made to me 
the other day set me to thinking, and I have come 
now to ask you how I am to educate my child." 

" The boy has violent fits of temper," said Mr. Atwell. 

" That is a fact, but how could you know it ? " 

" The more you punish him, the worse he is." 

"That is true, and I really dare not punish him. 
What can I do ? " 

" The next time he is in a rage, keep yourself entirely 
composed, for when you lose your balance, it makes 
him worse. Put cold water on his head, and when he 
is calm, talk with him and reason with him the best 
you can." 

Many years afterward the incident was recalled to 
his memory by a greeting from a stranger, who said, 
" I wish to thank you, Mr. Atwell, for your advice to 
my mother when I was a small boy. I shall never 
forget the i cold water treatment/ and it was my salva- 
tion. I am quick-tempered enough now, but the re- 
membrance of it always cools me down ! " 

Mr. Atwell was preeminently a man of peace, but he 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 55 

never forgot his manhood. One " Election-day," when 
every man in the village, except the minister, had gone 
to the polls, a little girl came running in to say that a 
tramp had come into their house, and they were greatly 
frightened. Mr. Atwell immediately went to their aid, 
and found the fellow insulting the lady in the most 
coarse and abusive language. He did not wait for 
ceremony. Seizing a cane, he threw off his black coat 
with the exclamation, " Lie there, Divinity!" caught 
the brute by the collar, jerked him into the yard and 
" thrashed " him until he begged for mercy. 

A man once came to him and said, " Elder Atwell, I 
am having a trial in my mind." 

" Well, what is it ? " 

" The Bible says, ' Love thy neighbor as thyself/ but 
my next neighbor treats me like an enemy, and he is 
so aggravating and annoying that I cannot help feeling 
very hard towards him." 

"That .man is not your neighbor," was the reply. 
" The meaning of the word neighbor is ' near-dweller,' 
and he dwells far from you in his heart." 

" But am I required to love him ? " 

" The law of God and gospel of Christ do not require 
impossibilities. / know that man, and simply to live 
in peace with him will tax your ' love ' as high as you 
will be able to pay." 

Mr. Atwell was once called to a house where a beau- 



56 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

tiful child lay dying. The mother was in an agony of 
grief and would not be comforted. 

" Oh, Elder Atwell," she cried, " the Bible seems to 
me a cruel mockery. Why does it say that ' God shall 
wipe away all tears from their eyes/ when he don't do 
it ! Oh, he don't do it ! " 

Mr. Atwell said to her, " Did you ever know a dying 
person to weep ? Think now, did you ever hear of 
such a thing ? " 

This was a happy diversion of her thoughts, and 
after a moment's thinking, she replied calmly, " I do 
not know that I ever did." 

" What do you suppose is the reason ? " he went on. 
" Now every person in this house weeps but one, and 
who is that one ? Why, it is your darling child ! She 
sheds no tears, for she feels no pang, Christ has 
wiped away all tears from her eyes. You need not 
fear death for her ; she will not know when she dies. 
She will think she is falling asleep in your arms, only 
it will be in Christ's arms ! " 

Mr. Atwell's wonderful power as a comforter natu- 
rally attracted many to him for counsel and advice. 
Said one, " Why does God send me so many trials? 
Can you tell me that ? " 

" I can," was the reply ; " It is that they may pass 
away. If you had your reward in this world, it would 
soon be gone. God has placed it in Eternity, so that 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 57 

you may always have it, and where it will abide ; but 
your trouble he puts here, where it will not abide." 

An aged lady residing in Canton relates the follow- 
ing reminiscence : " I was confined to my room by a 
long and tedious illness, and Elder Atwell came daily 
to see me. He was much opposed to a certain medi- 
cine that I was taking, and I never could deceive him, 
for he always knew when I had taken it. One day, in 
the course of conversation, I said to him, ' Elder Atwell, 
would you live your life over again if you could ? ' He 
replied, in his usual quick way, ' Would you ? ' I said, 
'I would, if I thought I could live a better one/ 'You 
would not live a better one/ he replied. ' You would 
not live so good a one ! You would make more mis- 
takes, and be less satisfied than you are now ! ' " 

A young lady came to him for advice. She had 
received an offer of marriage which she was not in- 
clined to favor, but which parents and friends were 
strongly urging her to accept. 

" I do not know but I am wrong," she said. " I am 
n ot much acquainted with him, and I may be preju- 
diced. You know him and you know me, and do you 
think we should be congenial companions ? " 

"It would be like the spider and the bee," said 
Mr. Atwell. " He would draw poison where you would 
extract honey." 

He sometimes had a quick way of disposing of 
8 



58 MEMORIAL SKETCHES. 

" bores " and worthless people. Once, while riding, he 
was accosted by a stranger with, " Is this Mr. Atwell ? " 

* That is my name/' 

"lama Baptist minister." 

" May the Lord have mercy on you, sir ! Go on, 
Chuck!" 

He once called at a house where a traveling phrenol- 
ogist was "examining heads." "This boy," said the 
man, "is an excellent mathematician." 

Mr. Atwell turned to the lad, and said, "Did you 
ever * do a sum ' in your life ? " 

" No, sir," was the reply ; " I never did and never 
could ! " 

A lady friend relates : " Mr. Atwell once said to me, 
' You are very sensitive, but no one knows it^ and peo- 
ple will always think that you ought to do exactly right, 
and will not make allowances/ That is true, but no 
one ever knew it before." 

Another says : " When I was a young girl, I remem- 
ber asking Mr. Atwell to tell me something about 
myself. He answered in this way, ' When you go into 
a company of young people, would you enjoy yourself 
at all, if you did not think yourself a little better than 
any one else in the room ? ' The rebuke went home, 
for I knew it was true." 



CHAPTER VII. 

TRIBUTES. 

Mr. Atwell perhaps will be longest remembered 
by the scores of young men who from time to time 
have come under his influence. Says one, " He made 
me what I am ; if it had not been for him, I should 
always have groveled!' 

His mode of teaching was, at that time, considered 
very peculiar. It was usually objective ; stories, bits 
of history, and even fairy tales made the means of 
sending home and stamping upon the mind the impres- 
sion of the thought that he wished to convey. Conse- 
quently he made the school-room an attractive place, 
the more so that his pupils were allowed liberty of 
thought as well as liberty of action. His controlling 
power lay in calling out the best things in them and 
making them see the best things in each other, and out 
of seeming confusion, he lived to see grand successes 
cropping out of the lives and histories of the young men 
in whom he had taken so loving an interest. He never 
was happier than when he could help them, and at the 
same time give them innocent and rational enjoyment. 



60 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

This trait of character was illustrated by a winter's 
incident which may not be out of place to relate : 

When teaching the "select school" in Canton, a 
lyceum was organized for the benefit of the young men. 
Its distinguishing feature was " The Bard," who opened 
the exercises of the evening by reciting an original 
poem, in which humorous and witty, yet harmless allu- 
sions were made to persons present. This was very 
ingeniously done in the form of puns, by which some 
pleasantly prominent characteristic of individuals would 
be delicately, yet so aptly brought out as to call forth 
roars of laughter, enjoyed most of all by the persons 
themselves. The " Canton Bard " speedily became 
famous, and outsiders flocked to see the fun. The 
audience was usually anticipated, and welcomed with 
something new and particularly appropriate. The 
Lyceum was invited to adjoining villages, where the 
indefatigable " bard " was sure to find material for his 
racy and sparkling pen, and probably no one enjoyed 
these scenes more than a certain Baptist minister, 
whose unique and original brain, behind the scenes, 
was the motive power of all. 

Edwin Gates, Esq., of New York city, sends the 
following timely and heartfelt tribute : 

" Chief among the pleasant recollections and associa- 
tions of my early manhood that clustered about my 
memory when I heard of the death of my dear old 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 61 

pastor, teacher, and friend- — the Rev. Geo. B. Atwell — 
was the remembrance of our acquaintance, friendship, 
and attachment of forty years ago ; for although sepa- 
rated at times by the breadth of a continent, I never 
ceased to feel the effects of his early training, his 
advice, his influence, and example ; all of which had 
much to do in forming my character and shaping my 
course through life. I was a young man " in my teens," 
wild and thoughtless, without aim or purpose relating 
to my future, when Providence seemed to have raised 
up the good man to become, as it were, my second 
father. We taught in the same building, and our inter- 
course was daily and constant. To me he was an elder 
brother, delighting to lift struggling ones above the 
dusty beaten paths, and to encourage them to a better 
life, to more expansive ideas, and to a loftier and nobler 
manhood. 

" Sanguine in temperament, buoyant, cheerful, happy, 
and preeminently companionable in his tastes and dis- 
position, he naturally drew about him the young, and 
having attached them to himself by those peculiar traits 
of character, he seemed to especially delight in their 
happiness and prosperity. His influence over the 
young men with whom he came in contact was most 
powerful, and it was always for good. I doubt not that, 
as in my case, there are many business men, located in 
nearly every important city, and in every section of the 



62 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

country, who are proud to remember, with feelings of 
esteem and gratitude, the tender-hearted and genial 
man who instilled into their minds the first ambitious 
thought and aspiration to make for themselves a name 
and reputation worthy the beloved friend who first in- 
spired in their minds the idea that to each and every 
one who aimed high there was open a broad field of 
labor and usefulness in which the most cultivated talent 
would find room to labor and expand. To the wonder- 
ful words of encouragement which so often fell from 
his lips I owe much, and I shall ever cherish his mem- 
ory with feelings of respect and reverence, for he was 
my true and faithful friend. 

" Mr. Atwell seemed always to overflow with hope 
and courage. No one in trouble or laboring under dis- 
couragements could come in contact with this man of 
sympathy and not instinctively feel relieved of a burden 
of care. His whole life seemed to glow with cheerful- 
ness and good humor, and no one, however despondent 
and cast down, could go to him and not feel his own 
hopes revived and his spirit lifted up into a new atmos- 
phere of confidence and restfulness. 

" As a neighbor he was kind, gentle, and generous ; 
as a teacher, considerate and faithful, devoted to the 
best interests of those under his care, solicitous for their 
advancement, and anxious for their promotion and future 
prosperity ; as a friend, matchless and grand ; as an ad- 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 63 

viser, safe and reliable ; self-sacrificing as a Christian, 
and tender and loving as a pastor. I remember him, 
too, as a zealous worker in the vineyard of the Master ; 
at the bed-side of the sick and the dying, inspiring 
courage and administering comfort : at the desolate 
homes of the bereaved and afflicted, pointing to the 
mansions enduring as eternity, where sorrowing ones 
shall find comfort, weary ones rest, and k all shall be 
satisfied.' 

u A life full of active labor and efforts for the good 
of humanity within his reach, independent and out- 
spoken in his convictions of right, yet liberal and tol- 
erant towards those differing with him in sentiment, he 
leaves us, not to mourn our loss, but to rejoice in his 
gain, for 'like a shock of corn fully ripe' he has been 
garnered to his reward, and to his ears has come the 
welcome plaudit, * Well done!" 

Perfection is not given to man upon earth, yet some 
can in their measure approximate to the ideal of the 
Psalmist, when speaking of the perfect man and upright 
he says, " It is the man of clean hands and a pure heart, 
who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity, nor sworn 
deceitfully. He that sweareth to his own hurt and 
changeth not. He tl\at back-biteth not with his tongue, 
nor doeth evil to his neighbor. He that walketh up- 
rightly and speaketh the truth in his heart. M Such a 
man was George B. Atwell. In him the elements of 



64 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

perfection and uprightness were more strikingly marked 
and clearly defined than in most men with whom we 
associate. Dignity combined with humility sat like a 
crown upon his brow. Wisdom and simplicity sparkled 
like jewels in his words of counsel, and sweetened his 
carriage and intercourse towards all. The blending of 
the Christian graces that go to make up what is good 
and true in manhood, in him shone out in all the trans- 
parency and innocence of childhood. 

" A purer soul I ne'er expect to find ; a kinder heart 
I do not wish to prove." " His words were kindness 
and his deeds were love ; his spirit humble and his life 
well-spent ; these then, and not a stone, shall be his 
monument." 

RECOLLECTIONS OF FATHER ATWELL. 

By Nelson Sizer. 

In the year 1844 I formed a pretty intimate acquaint- 
ance with Father Atwell, as he was affectionately 
called by a large portion of the people in the parish 
where I lived, Avon, Connecticut. We were brought 
together by the fact that Rev. Niles Whiting, pastor of 
the Baptist church of Avon, was my brother-in-law, 
and Mr. Atwell often called to visit Mr. Whiting, and 
frequently exchanged with him. 

As a preacher, he had many striking peculiarities ; 
his discourses were always rich in thought, full of 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWEJUL 65 

proverbs, epigrams, quaint, yet sensible conceits, with 
not a particle of chaff. He had also a startling, blunt, 
and direct vet kindly way of putting things, so that 
they never could be forgotten. 

Even-body seemed to think that he could be ap- 
proached on any subject, and no one expected to be 
snubbed, or roughly answered. Children confidently 
thought that he would right their wrongs, that he could 
unravel any trouble and explain any mystery ; and per- 
haps it may also be said that well grown people enter- 
tained similar opinions of him. 

, When there was a quarrel between members of a 
church, and one party complained to him and stated 
their grievances and the other party's faults, and were 
waiting for his reply, he would perhaps suddenly say, 
" Brother, you have not told me anything good of him : 
has he no excellences ? is he altogether bad ? if he is, he 
is unsafe to be running at large." 

This would generally raise a laugh, during which 
Father Atwell would say, M We all need Christ's pardon- 
ing mercy and the patient forbearance of brethren, and 
you and I must begin to do right and set a good 
example to our weak and erring brethren, and perhaps 
they will take the hint and do better in future." 

By this time, the complaining brother would see that 
Father Atwell was in no mood for taking up the cudgel, 
and the subject would be given up and forgotten. 
9 



66 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

Thus he would neither quarrel nor suffer anybody else 
to quarrel. He was a peacemaker, and no one a second 
time would try to rope him into a quarrel. His very 
approach awakened a feeling of kindness in every one, 
whether he were Christian or infidel. 

He had a large brain ; and as he moved among men 
he seemed to be their master, a kind of elder brother, 
an adviser, a wise monitor who knew all they knew 
and something more. When he spoke, strong thinkers 
listened ; he not only had strong reasoning and philoso- 
phic faculties, but he was a wonderful observer ; nothing 
large or little escaped his attention or criticism. The* 
great wideness of the upper part of his forehead indi- 
cated wit and taste, — he was brim full of wit ; every solid 
thought sparkled and glowed with wit and poetry, and 
he took the good natured side of all topics, and proba- 
bly never gave offence to a human being. Yet he had 
a wonderfully clear and direct way of showing to a per- 
son his defects, and the duty of reformation. 

His large benevolence led him to pity ignorance, 
weakness, and sin, and to shape his words and conduct 
so as to do good to each man he met. His base of 
brain, especially about the ears, was relatively small, 
hence he was not combative and vindictive, nor did he 
ever attempt to carry a cause by storm : he had cau- 
tiousness and secretiveness enough to avoid danger, 
and to evade any thing or subject which could not be 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 67 

discussed safely and profitably to himself and others. 
•He was sensitive to the -good opinion of his friends, — 
enemies he had none ; he was strong in his attach- 
ments, and awakened friendly regards so easily that he 
seemed never to try to please. 

Though his brain was large and his body only of 
medium size, he so carried himself with equanimity as 
not to waste his strength by useless excitement or 
excessive work, mentally or physically. One physi- 
ological fact was so marked in him that it is worth 
noting here. The action of his heart and the circula- 
tion of his blood were so unusually equable, that he had 
no rush of blood to the brain, and no congestion of 
blood in any part of the system, and therefore no blind 
impulse to rage when provoked. This " balance wheel" 
of his constitution, the heart, moved uniformly, and hence 
the ease with which he controlled himself and others, and 
herein we find a reason for his long life, and the happy 
harmony of his mental states, and the holding out of 
his faculties so long. 

Rest thee, venerable friend, in the fragrance of a 
pure and noble life ! Thy memory shall be fresh and 
sacred to all who knew thee, and they will expect thy 
welcome on the brighter side of Jordan. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PLEASANT VALLEY, 

In the year 1846, Mr. Atwell resigned his charge in 
Canton, and accepted a call to Pleasant Valley. He 
was pastor of the Baptist church in that village for the 
space of twelve years, and there made it his home for 
the remainder of his days. 

The score and half of years in Canton and Pleasant 
Valley were probably the most active and busy of his 
long life. He always ignored " vacations," and so 
rarely failed the fulfillment of any engagement to 
speak or preach, that, during a ministry of fifty years, 
we do not know that he missed a Sabbath. Funerals 
he attended far and near, for, as plants turn toward the 
sun, so did sorrowing hearts instinctively reach out to 
him for consolation. He took an active interest in 
schools, and at one time was given sole charge of all 
the public schools in town, acting as examining com- 
mittee and school visitor, and performing the duties 
alone and unaided. This to him was recreation. He 
delighted in children, and loved schools because chil- 
dren were in them, and why the children loved him is 



70 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

fitly told, in better words than ours, by one who knew 
him : 

"With Elder At well in 1846 came a new and 
brighter life to the children in Pleasant Valley. He 
won the parents by winning the little ones, and the 
youth by his spontaneous delight in all innocent pleas- 
ures. As he rode over the hills, he rarely passed a 
schoolhouse, and every face beamed and every eye was 
his as he spoke, for his questions always waked us up 
and drew out the best in us, and his words of counsel 
never seemed abstract, for they came as an object 
lesson, and we could take it in. 

" I hear him say, ' Come, children, want a ride ? ' 
while a full load and merry freighted the little buggy 
with all speed, and then, 'Come, Chuck, away with 
you ! ' and the gray pony flew down the hills, glad as 
his master, and when he dropped us at home, somehow 
there dropped into our hearts a sense that the minis- 
ter s Saviour must be ours too. 

" His home, with its atmosphere of culture, beyond 
other homes there, was a center where the young felt 
themselves built up in better things, and his ' You can 
do this/ another i You can do that,' acted as tonic when 
we were all doubt and perplexity. 

"As we went out into life and sought to lift others, 
more and more have we appreciated his work in Pleas- 
ant Valley. And better than all the active service, has 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 71 

been the saintly spirit shown in latter years, in the face 
of disappointing changes and conflicting forces. i He 
engthened the things that remained that were ready 
to die;' stood by broken ranks and cheered and coun- 
seled until the great command came, ' Come up higher.' 
I rejoice that he lies by river and hills that he loved so 
well, among the people where his name is a household 
name, uttered softly, ' as one whom God hath taken.' 
" In loving memory, 

-Mrs. S. H. Lee." 

A few lines from a private letter, written with no 
thought of publication, adds another to the "testimony 
of the children." 

'• I have among my treasures a copy-book, the copies 
written in a style peculiar to himself, in rhymes, notes 
of invitation, enigmas, and wise sayings. I would not 
part with it, for it is to me a sacred memento, as indeed 
all the remembrances of the dear old man from my 
early childhood are sacred. How well I remember his 
coming into my sick room, when I was but a child, and 
while I was moaning with pain, he would take me in 
his strong arms and carry me around the room, telling 
me fair}- tales as none but he knew how so well, until 
all pain was charmed . away. This was often repeated 
until I was well again. Then in his study, where we 
met, a few of us, girls and boys, day after day, as stu- 



72 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

dents, and listened to his wise sayings, which were far 
more pleasant and longer remembered than what we 
learned from our books.'' 

The first "select school" taught in Pleasant Valley 
was by Mr. Atwell, in the winter of 1846-7. A school- 
room was improvised in one end of a carriage-shop, a 
single desk ran from side to side, upon which books 
and slates must needs be common property, and each 
pupil brought a chair. It was a delightful little winter 
world to the bright* eyed company of boys and girls 
that gathered there, like members of a happy family. 
The exercises of the day would often close with " Ques- 
tions in Moral Philosophy,'' calculated to arouse busy 
thinking, the answers to bring out traits of character, 
by which they might learn to know the best things in 
each other. Sometimes a group would gather around 
him, while he would say to one, perhaps, " Your strength 
lies in your tastes;" to another, "Yours lies in your 
sympathies ; " and to another, "It is in you to accom- 
plish what you wish" supplementing each by a word 
or two of incentive towards some possibility in the 
future. 

During the revival in Pleasant Valley, in the winter 
of 1847-8, twelve young people were among the acces- 
sions to the Baptist church. 

One beautiful home association of our childhood is 
the morning Bible readings. His acquaintance with 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 73 

the Bible had been lifelong and intimate, yet he opened 
it each day with the fresh delight of a seeker of pre- 
cious jewels. " Such as he had gave he us." Keenly 
alive to its spiritual meaning, and reading in course, as 
was his habit, the path through the sacred Book was 
illuminated for his children by their father's words of 
wisdom. Common to us as daily food, we could not 
know all their preciousness until they were gone. We 
knew no morbid fears in reference to religion. The 
home atmosphere was that of trust in Providence, and 
that principle was the mainspring of daily action. 
Troubles and perplexities were often present, but they 
seemed to bring with them the sunshine and serenity 
of an almost perfect faith. His prayers in the family 
were like confidential talks with a beloved and honored 
father, who became nearer and dearer, in proportion to 
the need. 

Never to be forgotten are the sorrowful days that 
followed the death of the wife and mother. Morning 
prayer was the altar on which the heart-aches were 
laid, and from which was derived sustaining comfort 
for the day. One morning, the chapter read was the 
third of Titus, in which occurs the passage, " To the 
pure all things are pure." 

"That," said he, "is not well understood. It means 
this. The altar sanctifies the gift. When God lays 
His hand upon us and takes away our enjoyments and 
10 



74 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

gives us afflictions and trouble, a pure heart will purify 
the trouble, sanctify these afflictions, and improve the 

pain. Why, dear , every sorrow has a meaning, 

and there is a design in every trouble. Mother went 
home in the best way and the best time. It has cut a 

cord that bound us to earth, but remember, dear , 

that every loss is gain, and every present pain the 
parent of future pleasure. If I did not believe this, I 
should not wish to live/' 

Once upon reading the nth chapter of Hebrews, 
the talk turned upon faith. His manner and words 
seemed, at the time, so like inspiration, that to preserve 
them from oblivion, they were written down on the 
spot. As we stood around his dying bed, they came 
vividly to remembrance, and yearning hearts longed to 
know what his experiences were. 

"Faith," said he, "is strongest in death, because 
then flesh is weakest. The body lies weak and pale, 
the tide of life is ebbing fast. The windows of the 
dying man's soul are darkened, the King of Terrors 
has drawn a film over his vision. His friends, as they 
surround his bed, are but dimly seen ; their words to 
him are indistinct and confused. His wandering senses 
and fainting spirit are quitting their last hold, and 
while darkness curtains around his eyes and the lamp 
of life receives the last rude blast, all that he has seen 
in faith now appears in form and fact. Now his faith 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 75 

is lost in sight. The chart and compass he needs no 
more. He has passed the tempestuous sea, and by 
them has escaped the quicksands, rocks, and shoals of 
his dangerous way. F^ith is like the scaffolding of a 
house, needful no longer than the building is being 
erected. It leads and supports its possessor, nor for- 
sakes him until it points out the Author and Finisher 
of his faith. 

" So Faith ends in sight. Let the dead bury their 
dead, but come thou to the mansions of the blest ! " 

It was in daily life and conversation that Mr. , Atwell 
won the title of the " old man eloquent." His studied 
thoughts were rarely so effective as those that came to 
him on the spur of the moment, and fell from his lips, 
rounded and complete, like a dropped pearl. Here is a 
gem, the setting of which is lost and forgotten, but the 
jewel still sparkles : 

" We have physicians for our bodies and ministers 
for our souls, but the nervous system that lies half way 
between, and partakes of the nature of both, no one 
has been raised up to cure that." 

He always kept open house and was rarely without 
the pleasure of entertaining a brother minister, when 
the hour of morning prayer would often extend into 
half a forenoon of Bible talk. Once he opened the 
Bible with the remark, 

" Well, Brother , I read in course in my family, 



y6 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

and to-day begins again at Genesis. Every time I 
finish the Bible I think I may not livedo read it through 
again. It is a two-leaved door, the Old Testament and 
the New, that God has opened to us, as He opened to 
Cyrus the two-leaved gate which was a key to the 
empires of the world." 

After reading the first, second, and third chapters, 
he closed the Book. 

" Now Brother — — , why did God close the Gate of 
Paradise against Adam ? Was it for nothing but 
punishment ?" 

" I would like to know your idea of that, Father 
Atwell," was the reply. 

" It was to open the gate of repentance, which still 
stands open, and we are not only invited in, but guided 
and led. What do we find on entering ? Everything 
that we have lost, and more ! " 

One morning, the text' was read, "of myself I will 
not glory, but in mine infirmities. " " What are infirmi- 
ties ? " he asked. 

" Something not over desirable," was replied. 

" Desirable ? They are messengers from the upper 
world to invite us there. We should receive and treat 
them well, for they are God's ambassadors, and clothed 
with high authority. What we call troubles, are only 
our wishes crossed by God's will and wisdom, and in 
reality they are blessings ! " 



REV. GEORGE B. ATJVELl. 77 

"A straw shows which way the wind blows;" and a 
homely and not unfriendly remark made of Mr. Atwell, 
" He was a Baptist, but he worked for Methodists and 
Congregationalists as well as for Baptists," is a testi- 
mony to the liberal and catholic spirit for which he was 
distinguished. Intelligently and conscientiously a Bap- 
tist, and held in veneration by ministerial brethren and 
members of his own church, his views on different 
beliefs and forms of religious faith were broad enough 
to give every one their due, therefore he counted 
among his friends, members and clergymen of all 
denominations. Could all the friendly and spicy dis- 
cussions upon different points of doctrine be gathered 
together, an entertaining record might be presented. 
Here is a specimen, only a part of which remains, an 
incident of childhood, yet engraved upon memory in 
enduring lines. 

" I don't object to your baptism, but I do to your 
close communion. If you could bring a single passage 
to prove that, who knows but I might be a Baptist ? " 

" ' When ill oa fray est e liter i?ito thy closet and when 
then hast shut the door,' etc. Is not that close com- 
munion ? '' 

" I hold to ' close communion ' with God." 

" You hold to 'close communion' with the Head ; I 
extend it to the body." etc. 

It is told of Mr. Atwell, that when a lawsuit involv- 



78 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

ing serious consequences was threatened between New 
Hartford and Pleasant Valley, he threw himself into 
the gap, and by personal efforts and appeals, and the 
influence and force of his character, he effected a recon- 
ciliation, and succeeded in warding off the impending 
calamity. 

His universality sometimes led a certain class of 
people to misunderstand his character and motives. 
He was once bluntly accosted in a public place, " Elder 
Atwell, I don't like you ! You agree too much with 
everybody, and I don't like you ! " 

The characteristic reply was, " I don't blame you at 
all. I've known George B. Atwell a great many years, 
and I never liked him very well myself ! " 

This might seem like a quaint and amusing diversion 
of the subject, nevertheless it was truest expression of 
self. He was naturally sensitive, and the tendency of 
his mind was towards self-depreciation. He was always 
deeply conscious of obligation for any favor received, 
yet one of his peculiarities was that the acknowledg- 
ment of such usually came afterward, and in some odd 
and unexpected way. 

Once upon the occasion of a " donation party " at his 
house, which was the social event of the season for 
miles around, his note of thanks appeared in the Chris- 
tian Secretary in the form of 



REV. GEORGE B, ATWELL. 79 

A SERMON. 

• Text. Be at peace with poverty and not afraid of 
penury. 

Introduction. The want of money is not the root of 
all evil. " Money makes the mare," and sometimes the 
minister, "go;" albeit, some are compelled to go for 
want of it, and some go without it. In the Jewish 
church, there were buyers and sellers. In the gospel 
church, Iscariot offered to sell, and Magus wished to 
buy. In the former, they were scourged out with 
cords ; in the latter, one went out by a single cord. 

Notice the terms used in the text. 

1st, Peace. The peace given by Jesus is worth more 
than the thirty pieces given to Judas. Judas gained 
thirty pieces, but lost his own. He was not at peace 
with poverty ; fearful of penury, he died in infamy. 

2d, Poverty. When ministers are poorer than their 
Master, when laborers are more indigent than their 
Lord, when preachers have less silver and gold than 
Peter, and pastors suffer more loss than Paul, then may 
they break peace with poverty, and to escape penury, 
embrace popery. 

3d, Penury. Penury points to providence and its 
provisions, viz., the widow's mites, and Jonah's gourd, 
and Peter's gold-fish. One widow in penury received 
a prophet in the name of a prophet, and received a 



8o MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

prophet's reward. What the other did, she did with 
all her mite, Peter's tax was crossed by what God 
gave, and Jonah's temper by what he took away. 

Doctrine. He that is patient in poverty is prudent in 
plenty. The applicati'on of the subject is a 

DONATION VISIT. 

When the old year '52 went out, and the new year 
'53 came in, poverty went out with the old, and plenty 
came in with the new. What ! know ye not that there 
is poetry in poverty ? Friends came unto us, not 
weary, but heavy-laden. One hundred and seventy 
persons sat down to a Board of Relief, and the board 
could have relieved as many more. What though they 
have made me their debtor, they have likewise made 
the banks mine ; for should banks of earth cave in, and 
their paper and promise fail, Providence Bank is good, 
and yields to the stockholders a dividend of thirty, sixty, 
and a hundred fold. 

1®=" He that is at peace with poverty can be at peace 

with the people. 

GEORGE B. ATWELL, 

Pleasant Valley, January 3, 1853. 

Mr. Atwell was in the habit of contributing, from 
time to time, short articles to the Christian Secretary. 

The following is the only one that, written at about 
this time, was preserved by himself : 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 81 

"THE TRUE SABBATH. 

" On the seventh day God rested, and the Sabbath 
was perpetuated. It was incorporated into the Jewish 
code, and its observance binding on the Israelites by 
positive precept ; and morally on all mankind. 

" Still, 'twas a shadow. A shadow, cast from the 
body of Christ 'Let no man therefore judge you in 
meat or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the 
new moon, or of the Sabbath days ; which are a shadow 
of things to come ; but the body is of Christ.' — Col. ii, 
16 and 17. 

u When Christ came in the body, shadows gave place 
to substance. The law and the prophets travelled until 
they met John ; then their lesser was lost in his greater 
light. John met Jesus, and as the day star declines 
before the sun, John began to decrease ; had a cubit 
taken from his stature, and the Voice gave way to the 
Word. The Word was God, and He was Lord of the 
Sabbath day. Id est, author of, and had power over it. 

"When God finished His work He rested on the 
seventh day. When Christ said ' It is finished,' on 
the eve of the Sabbath, He rested from His work on 
the Sabbath day, and His rest was glorious. When 
He was buried, the ' old Jewish Sabbath was buried 
with Him. The old covenant of sacrifices and Sab- 
baths had waxed old, were ready to die, and vanished 
11 



82 MEMORIAL SKETCHES. 

away. The day the Saviour lay under the power of 
death was not a day of rest to His weeping church. 
A Sabbath without a Saviour, like a body without a 
soul, is dead. The Redeemer arose on the first day of 
the week — Lord's day. Abraham desired to see that 
day ; he saw it when Isaac arose from the altar of 
death, and was glad. His true sons and daughters 
were glad when they saw their risen Lord. ' This is 
the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and 
be glad in it.' This is the Lord's day, and it bears his 
image and superscription. a. b. g." 



CHAPTER IX. 

UTTERANCES, 

At an ordination, where Mr. Atwell was appointed 
to deliver the " charge to the candidate," he spoke as 
follows : 

" A bishop must be blameless, though blamed. Clad 
in white, yet called to walk among pots and kettles, he 
must take heed to keep his garments unspotted, for a 
black spot, though it may not be seen on black, is 
always noticed on white. Take heed, therefore, to 
make and leave a mark on the world, and as good heed 
not to receive and retain a mark from the world. 
Take heed against a desire for popular applause and 
places. It is difficult to stand on a high place, and 
dangerous to fall. We never find the great High 
Priest of our profession on the pinnacle of the temple 
but once. Who took Him there f What were His 
views on an exceeding high mountain? The kingdoms 
of this world ; but what was His company on these high 
places? Mountains and lofty rocks may be places for 
goats, but the valleys contain the green pastures and 
still waters, where a shepherd should lead, not drive, 



84 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

his flock. A minister should not rise higher than the 
cross can raise him." 

While spending a few days in New York city, he 
chanced to stray into a small chapel, thinking to find a 
week-day prayer-meeting. It proved to be a Bible 
class of middle-aged men, and "the stranger" was 
invited to join. He did so, and a question was imme- 
diately put to him, " What is the design of Prayer ? " 

He arose and replied, " To keep up the correspond- 
ence between Heaven and Earth. We have an order 
on the Bank of Heaven ; it reads in this way, Ask, and 
ye shall receive. Prayer takes this order to the Bank. 
'Tis a bank that always discounts. From it Peter 
drew a fish, a gold-fish with money in its mouth; money 
for the demand, and the fish for dinner. From this 
bank one widow drew meal, another oil, and another a 
life insurance for her son. This bank is always open, 
and its President sits over against the treasury." 

The following is from a private letter : 

" My fare may fail, my faith never. You'll find my 
bank will never be bankrupt ; 'tis a bank no flood can 
overflow, no earthquake cave it in. All I have is 
invested in this bank. To gain access to it I need a 
check ; a check to avarice and pride. Would you know 
where this bank is? Seek and ye shall find!' 

A fragment found among his writings seems worth 
preserving : " Christ intended to stamp importance 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 85 

upon the last act of his life, and to fulfill every jot and 
tittle of the law he must eat the passover. He sent 
two of his disciples and saith unto them, ' Go ye into 
the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a 
pitcher of water; follow him, and he shall lead you into 
an upper chamber.' Suppose it had been a pitcher of 
rum, would Christ have commanded them to follow 
him ? No, he would have led them into a low cellar, 
but the cold water man led them upward? 

The following were gathered up as they were let fall, 
without the connection in which they were spoken : 

u The way to treat slanderers is to let them alone, as 
mud upon your garments should be let alone. Mor- 
decai let Haman alone, and he finished the gallows 
unmolested. Haman intended to rise by Mordecai's 
fall, and he did rise, but it was fifty cubits higher than 
he expected!" 

"A falling star cannot abide the rising sun.'' 
" Christ can cast an evil spirit out of a man,, but an 
evil spirit cannot cast out Christ. " 
" All Christ's miracles were mercies." 
"We must die in order to be deathless." 
" We learn to do ditty from the law ; we learn to love 
duty from the gospel." 

" Before conversion our heart is our worse part ; after 
conversion it is the best." 

" If you cannot remove a mountain by faith, mount 



86 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

above it by faith's wings. If you cannot fly, then bear 
it with patience. Patience can bear what faith cannot 
remove. Patience can do us more good than all the 
trouble in the world can do us harm. ,, 

" It is easier to resist one temptation than to gratify 
all that follow." 

" The death of the body is death to our sins, but life 
to our grace." 

" Man may suffer and not sin, but cannot sin and not 
suffer." 

" Self is another name for sin ; love is another name 
for God. God is love and Satan is self." 

" Conscience is light, not love ; it wounds, but never 
cures. It troubles us on account of sin, but so far from 
cleansing, that it needs cleansing itself." 

" Make man right and all things are rectified." 

" The worst men are not in Newgate, and the best 
not in the pulpit ; the wisest not in Congress, and the 
most insane not in the Retreat." 

" It is a great thing to act right when you feel 
wrong." 

" Weeping is good for the heart, and laughter is good 
for the liver. Man is the only being endowed with the 
power of laughter, and the only being that deserves to 
be laughed at." 

" When you are wrong turn right about and you will 
be about right." 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 87 

" Let a man in the zenith of prosperity remember 
that when the moon is full it grows no larger, and when 
the clock strikes twelve it does not strike thirteen 
next." 

" That which will break a proud man's heart, will not 
disturb a humble man's sleep." 

" A wrong opinion is worse than none. To believe 
a falsehood is the worst kind of unbelief. He that is 
led by a blind guide is more exposed to the ditch than 
he who has no feet." 

" When you know not what to do, never do you know 
not what." 



CHAPTER X. 

PEARLS. 

In the intervals of pastoral duty in Pleasant Valley, 
Mr. Atwell found time to write a series of original 
fables, a few of which have been published. He in- 
tended a book, the material for which was never com- 
pleted, but whose design came so near maturity as to 
take to itself a title' and a preface : 

PEARLS FOR THE POOR, 

CONTAINED IN PROVERBS AND PARABLES, 

IN WHICH 

FACT IS DRAWN FROM FABLE. 

PREFACE. 

Why do I speak in parables ? Because men will lis- 
ten to birds and beasts when they w T ould not hear a 
bishop, and like better to hear a parrot talk than a par- 
son preach. 

The barking of a dog once saved the infant colonies, 

and the gabbling of a goose prevented Rome from being 

sacked and burned. The crowing of a cock brought 

Peter to penitence. A prophet was reproved by the 

12 



9 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

mouth of an ass, and a thousand men were slain by its 
jaw. Solomon sent sluggards to the ant, Sampson took 
honey from a lion, and Peter drew funds from a fish. 

The Great Teacher taught His followers to notice the 
lilies of the field and the fowls of the air, and from 
them learn the doctrine of providence. In the Bible 
beasts and brambles talk, nor is the serpent dumb in 
the volume of inspiration. Job said, "Ask now the 
beasts and they shall teach thee, and the fowls of the air 
and they shall tell thee!' 

Go then into the pages and among the leaves of this 
book and listen to the conversation of the beasts and 
birds ; your Heavenly Father gave them their nature, 
your earthly father gave them their names. 

Be not sad nor sorrowful when you read, nor sour 
when you search, for vinegar, it is said, will dissolve 
pearls. 

THE ALPHABET. 

A sedition disturbed the republic of letters. The 
consonants accused the vowels of aristocracy and mo- 
nopoly, although they were a minority. At a meeting, 
President A remarked that " a confusion of tongues 
proved disastrous to Babel, and a discord among letters 
would work mischief among Bibles. If we go according 
to Walker^ he continued, "we shall walk together and 
be agreed, and our great patron Webster is not a dis- 
unionist." 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 91 

H took the floor and said " I claim equality, and raise 
my voice against partiality. Yon, sir, who sit in that 
chair, have five sounds ; but I, who have a strong in- 
ward impulse and aspiration, am allowed no sound ; no, 
not even in honor can I be heard." 

T arose. Addressing the chair, he said, " I demand, 
sir, by what authority you are placed at the head, and 
who gave you this authority ? I complain of crosses ; 
I am always crossed, and the cross I am compelled to 
bear." 

Z next stood up, but from his voice you could not 
distinguish him from S. He stated as the ground of 
his complaint that he was trampled under foot, that 
they were all above him, that he was placed next to 
ampersand, and could not rise above zero. 

5, sour and sad, made a very crooked speech. 

X looked very cross and spoke Xtempore. 

The mutes, hitherto regarded as deaf and dumb, for 
the first time uttered their voice ; they suggested the 
removal and banishment of all capital letters, as large 
capitalists were dangerous in a republic. 

The liquids, unstable as water, expressed no opinion, 
and the semi-vowels remained on the fence. 

Q questioned, queried, quibbled, and quarreled. 

The consonants were clamorous for disunion, and 
the house divided, the consonants on one side and the 
vowels on the other. W and Y did not leave their 



\ 

92 MEMORIAL SKETCHES 01 

places, and both parties claimed them. The consonants, 
knowing their numbers, called upon P to poll the votes. 
5 was chosen speaker, but could not speak a word 
without a vowel. The vowels could utter a sound but 
not a syllable without a consonant. The consonants 
now were virtually silent letters, and the vowels mutes. 

Y wisely spoke and said, "'The end of folly is the 
beginning of wisdom/ and as Wis first in wisdom, let 
him mediate between the contending parties." 

W stood midway between the vowels and conso- 
nants and said, " Brothers, although I am a double 
letter, I shall not speak with a double tongue. I've 
an equal interest in you both, for when I begin a sylla- 
ble I am a consonant, and everywhere else I am a 
vowel. Divided you cannot stand, you cannot speak, 
neither can you spell. Though bound to spell, you are 
now spell bound. Come together in Union. See, it 
begins with a vowel and is finished with a consonant, 
and by taking either from it, it is spoiled. You pre- 
serve it as long as you keep together ; you destroy it 
when you separate. Division is destruction, and when 
you dissolve your Union you ensure your own dissolu- 
tion ; for in compact and constitution vowels and con- 
sonants are blended and united." 

The letters voted to dissolve the meeting, but not the 
union. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 93 

MoraL 

The dissolution of States in a federal compact is 
commonly a suicidal act. The sword of sedition sep- 
arates soul and spirit, and divides the joints and marrow 
of a republic. 

Men, by observing the characters drawn in the fore- 
going fable, may learn something of their own. 

THE SHORT MAN AND LONG SHADOW. 

A certain dwarf named yohn was in feeling above, 
but in fact below, the ordinary height, and he was much 
chagrined to see common people head and shoulders 
above him. Unable by taking thought to add a cubit 
to his stature, or to make others a cubit less, he was 
chafed at his low standing, and vexed at being called 
Demi yohn. 

Arising very early one morning, he noticed that his 
body cast a long shadow. He was rejoiced at the 
sight, and said, " Can a short body reflect a long 
shadow ? Is not a shadow true to its substance, as a 
mirror gives the exact image of a substantial form ? 
But," he continued, " I will see if the setting sun con- 
firms what its rising has assured me, that I am a 
tall man." 

The sun decreased, but our pigmy had increased. 
As the sun went down, he placed himself in the range 



94 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

of his last rays, and was delighted to see his shadow 
measure the full length of his desire. The shadow 
observing his exultation, said to him, 

" You have made your observation, and have come to 
your conclusion with your back to the sun. The morn- 
ing of youth and the evening of age are improper 
seasons to judge correctly of ourselves, and if you 
would measure yourself by your shadow, I advise you 
to make the experiment at noon!' 

Moral. m 

Great shadows are not proof of great men. 

THE SWORD AND PLOUGH. 

"Our fields of labor are very different/' said the 
sword to the plough. " Mine is a field of glory, and 
yours of ground/' 

" Mine is a field of bread, and yours of blood," 
answered the plough. 

" I am not surprised," added the sword, " that any 
man putting his hand to you should look back rather 
than look on so unsightly a thing." 

" If men put their hands to you, they will perish by 
you," returned the plough. 

" I was set to guard the tree of life," quoth the sword. 

" And found to be unto death," retorted the plough. 

" The old serpent crawls on the ground, and you 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 95 

creep below it" said the sword. " You cut what God 
hath cursed, — the ground. " 

" I cure what is cursed," replied the plough, " while 
you are a curse to what is cured." 

"I am for Fame ! " exclaimed the sword. 

" No, you are for Famine," answered the plough, 
" and you have been ordered back to your sheath by the 
highest authority." Matt. xxvi. 52. 

The sword reddened with rage, as often heretofore, 
when the point said to the hilt, u We are beaten by a 
ploughshare, and the time cometh when we shall be 
beaten into one." 

Moral. 

Men prefer the field of carnage to the field of herbage, 
and decorate the sword with gold, silver, and precious 
stones ; but rectify men's hearts, and they will sheathe 
the sword with Washington and take the plow with 
Cincinnatus. 

THE MEN AND THE GRAPES. 

Two hunters, having had hunters' luck, were in need 
of something to eat. Espying some grapes which 
hung beyond their reach, they were perplexed how to 
obtain them. At length they hit upon the following 
expedient: the heavier man of the two stood under the 
vine, and the lighter, by mounting and standing upon 



96 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

the shoulders of his comrade, could reach and secure 
them. 

The elevated man could now reach what he never 
could by his own height. Having secured the fruit, he 
refused a share to him whose shoulders had borne him, 
but claimed the whole because he had gathered the 
whole. They parted, one had the grapes and the other 
had nothing. 

A crow, perched upon a tree hard by, croaked, " You 
have lost both friend and fruit." 

" Yes," answered the man, " I could bear his weight 
better than his ingratitude." 

" Well," replied the crow, " from this your trial you 
may draw the following 

Moral: 

He that holds another upon his shoulders may 
expect to be trodden down by him ; for the one thus 
upheld can see farther and reach higher than he who 
bears him. 

THE SEASONS. 

The seasons concluded to unite their influence and 
combine their temperature so as to soften the rigors 
of winter and allay the heat of summer. To establish 
and maintain a uniformity, it was suggested that old 
Mr. December should wed the blooming Madam May, 
as there should be a union of months in order to blend 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 97 

the seasons. Her ladyship, having been assured that 
he could not live over a month, consented to an inter- 
view. 

The old gentleman, bold as he was bald, threw on 
his mantle of snow, and bidding his faithful servant, 
North Wind, to back him up, took his icicle cane, 
sparkling with diamonds, and commenced a matrimo- 
nial tour. " My long evenings will be favorable to 
such a negotiation," thought he. 

He found Madam May reclining on a grassy bank, 
clad in a green robe, and holding in her hand a half- 
opened rose. On his approach she was a little dis- 
turbed on seeing him attended by his two sons, Jack 
Frost and Snow-ball. As a preliminary, and to ensure 
his own success, he offered his eldest son, Jack Frost, 
to her daughter, Mary Gold. He likewise proposed 
his other son, Snow-ball, to her second daughter, 
Snow-drop. Rose, her third daughter, blushed a 
little, but envied not her sisters their lovers. 

Here they were interrupted by Officer Leap Year, 
who held an office once in four years. He informed 
them that the whole proceeding was illegal, and read 
the law : " While the earth remaineth, seed-time and 
harvest, cold and heat, Summer and Winter, day and 
night, shall not cease." He remarked that such mar- 
riages were never made in Heaven, and could not be 
ratified on earth ; they would be unequally yoked. 
13 



9 8 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

But Madam May caught a terrible cold from the old 
gentleman, and has been subject to chills ever since, 
while he imbibed so much of her mild temperature that 
the rosemary has been known to bloom in his breath. 

THE ICE AND THE SNOW. 

" You are as white as a sheet," said the ice to the 
snow ; " and you are falling ; are you faint ? " 

" My fall is noiseless, as my flakes are harmless," 
replied the snow. 

" I think you lack firmness," rejoined the ice ; "and 
more solidity of character would render you less the 
sport of wintry winds." 

" We have more to fear from the sun than from the 
wind," responded the snow. 

" Indeed," replied the ice, " I should pity your weak- 
ness on the approach of such a foe." 

" I shall commend myself to his mercy by my white- 
ness and purity," meekly returned the snow. 

" I shall resist his power by my hardness and firm- 
ness," observed the ice. 

The sun now poured his rays upon our two cold 
friends. The snow began to weep and the ice to melt. 

" Where is your whiteness and purity now ? " asked 
the dissolving ice. 

"And where your hardness and firmness ?" inquired 
the snow. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 99 

11 We are returning to water whence we came, as 
man returns to dust," said the ice. 

u Tis not death, but change," observed the snow. 

a By this change we are becoming one," responded 
the ice. 

14 And seeking the lowest place," replied the snow. 
- 4t We can now ascend to Heaven," said the ice ; 
11 whereas we never could while I retained my boasted 
hardness and you your vaunted firmness." 

Moral 

On this side of the grave we regard Death as an 
enemy, and dread his approach. Death destroys not 
the man, but his dependence on himself, as the sun 
did not annihilate, only change, the snow and the ice. 

Firmness and strength cannot resist, nor innocence 
and beauty bribe Death. 

THE FIRE AND THE WATER. 

A fire, breaking out in the woods, raged with great 
fury. In its random course and unchecked violence it 
spared neither trees nor fences. It threatened distant 
buildings and laughed at insurance offices. Beasts, 
and even men, feared its power and fled at its approach. 

Following the direction of the wind, it shaped its 
course towards a river. It sent its deputy, the smoke, 
to inform the stream that its march lay directly through 



IOO MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

his province, and that he could have his choice of three 
things : First, To quit his channel and leave it entirely 
dry, or, Second, To pay a tribute equal to the value of 
his fish, or, Third, Be burned up. 

The river sent back the truce with the answer, " that 
as fire and water had never been known to agree, it 
would be impossible for him to agree to his proposi- 
tion." 

Enraged at this response, the fire seized the high 
grasses and flags which grew near the stream, and, 
roaring and crackling, demanded of the river imme- 
diate submission and surrender of all his boats, bridges, 
fish, and fowl. 

The river replied, " I have two Banks ; come to 
them, and you shall receive a check for all you demand 
of me." 

So saying, the river went on, while the fire went — 

out. 

Moral 

Many men boast and threaten, but never accomplish. 

Water always seeks the lowest place ; fire seeks the 
highest. We have both in our organism, and we need 
both in our baptism. 

THE BELL. 

A church bell, proud of its eminence, dealt more in 
sound than sense. Seeing Christian people, and even 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 101 

the parson, obedient to its call, it was puffed up y as well 
as raised up. It soliloquized as follows : 

"My elevation is above pulpit and priest. I am 
useful both to the living and the dead ; I ring for the 
one and toll for the other. That was a vile saying of 
the fox, that I have more mouth than brains, more 
tongue than talent ; but earthly-minded animals know 
nothing of the regions of the air where I dwell. I 
think I will open a correspondence with the sun ; he is 
highest in the heavens, as I am highest on the earth. 
The world looks to him for heat, and to me for hearing. 
I heard the choir sing last Sabbath, and, if I recollect 
right, one line ran thus : ' My tongue the glory of my 
frame! If backbiters and flatterers can say this of 
tongues, with more propriety I can say it of mine, 
which never told a lie. A tongue like mine, free from 
guile and void of slander, should be heard and shall be 
heard." 

The clapper now struck with such violence that it 
cracked the bell. It was lowered to the ground, and a 
jury of inquest brought in a verdict, "Ruined and 
rendered useless by its owu tongue!' 

The epitaph of the old bell was the following 

Moral. 

Here lies one who called others to church, but never 
went himself. 



102 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

THE SHEEP AND THE SHEARS. 

" I had rather you would flee like a hireling than 
take my robe like a robber," said the sheep to the 
shears. 

" I take what burdens you and benefits others," re- 
turned the shears. 

" If I had two coats I would willingly give you one," 
said the sheep. 

" You will be oppressed with your old coat and 
blessed with a new one," was the reply. 

" Is not this fleece, which warms my flesh, a bless- 
ing?" 

" The blessing is in giving, not keeping your fleece." 

" Winter without wool among sheep, like winter 
without wood among men, is dreadful," exclaimed the 
sheep. 

" The summer's growth shall succeed the spring's 
gift," quoth the shears, as he finished the work. The 
sheep gave the wool. Summer came and the disbiuv 
dened sheep had plenty of warmth. Winter came and 
a warmer and finer fleece succeeded the old. 

Moral. 

What is given in charity never tends to poverty, and 
what is laid out in giving is laid up in heaven. 



REV. GEORGE B. A7JVELL. 103 

THE NINE DIGITS. 

The four ground rules of Arithmetic met for discus- 
sion and debate as to the legality of "carrying one to 
every ten." 

Notation addressed the meeting and said that he was 
unable to see the consistency of carrvine one to each 
ten. "What!" he exclaimed, "if I owe a man ten 
dollars must I pay eleven ? M 

Numeration replied that " as we increase and de- 
crease in tenfold proportion, not to carry to every ten 
would destroy the principle of decimal arithmetic/' 

Addition said that when he "added a column of 
figures he always carried ten to the ten's place." 

Subtraction stated that he was " often compelled to 
borrow ten, but always paid it ;" and Multiplication 
remarked, " There are but nine significant figures. Ten 
cannot be expressed by a single figure, therefore we 
must carry one to make ten." 

X being in the service of Multiplication was present 
at the meeting, and requested a hearing on the ground 
of being a representative of ten by a single character. 

''Uncross your legs and leave the room," said the 
moderator ; " the members of this meeting are figures, 
not letters or signs/.' 

Division observed that in his operations ten was of 
little use, and it was often cut off instead of being 
carried. 



104 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

Fractions, being present as spectators, made some 
broken as well as vulgar and improper remarks. 

Nine, who despised Nought, now suggested to the 
meeting that Nought was a character of no value, that 
he represented nothing, and ought to be expelled. 

Nought, seeing himself in danger, brought forward a 
resolution, recommending the ancient practice of casting 
out the nines. 

Nine, proud of being the highest number, and know- 
ing that if Nought and Unit should unite that he would 
be out-numbered, with much contempt said to Nought, 
" Pray, Mr. Nought, consider what you are, — Nothing ! 
and who you are, separated from your left-hand figure !" 

" And what are yon, Mr. Nine," responded Nought, 
"when separated from your tail ?" 

Moral 

Some men owe all their importance to their property ; 
others all their consequence to their titles. Others 
again are indebted for their popularity to the aid of 
influential friends. Without these, like the shorn 
Sampson, they become like other men, or, like nine 
without a tail, as in the fable, are not above the lowest. 

THE CANDLE AND THE SNUFFERS. 

One evening, a hundred years ago, a lighted candle 
and a pair of snuffers were left alone together upon the 
kitchen table. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 105 

" You are a great snuff -taker,' ' quoth the candle. 

" For your benefit, not my own," replied the snuffers; 
"you are indebted to me for much of your brightness." 

" All you have you receive from me," said the candle. 

" 'Tis no virtue to give away what is worthless," re- 
torted the snuffers. 

" I glory not in giving snuff y but in giving light," 
responded the candle. " I am a burning and shining 
light ; my light is shining before men and for their 
good ; I give my body to be burned, and for their and 
your benefit I am burning up." 

"No," replied the snuffers, "you are burning down" 

The candle reddened and flared a little, but still 
insisted with a good deal of warmth that it was burning 
up. " To convince you," it exclaimed, " see my blaze !" 

" The longer you stand the shorter you grow," re- 
torted the snuffers ; " which proves that you are burn- 
ing down" 

The two disputants now referred the question to the 
candle-stick to decide whether the candle was burning 
up or down. The candle-stick, who held the light on 
the subject, said it was neither burning up nor down, 
but burning out. While he was yet speaking, the 
candle went out. 

" There," said the umpire, " I conclude that you will 
yield to my decision." 

44 1 care not," said the snuffers, " whether it went up> 
H 



106 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

or down, or out; it is enough for me that I survive my 
opponent." 

Moral 

A violent partizan is satisfied with the death of his 
rival ; and most disputes among mankind are as trifling 
in their nature as the debate between the candle and 
the snuffers. 

THE BOY AND THE BRICK. 

A boy hearing his father say that "it was a poor 
rule that would not work both ways," determined to 
test it in his play. So setting up some bricks in a row, 
he tipped over the first one, which, striking the second, 
caused it to fall on the third, which overturned the 
fourth, and so on, until all the bricks lay prostrate. 

" Now," said the boy, " each brick has knocked down 
the one that stood next to it; I only tipped one. I will 
begin at the other end and set one up, and see if set- 
ting up one will raise all the rest." He waited in vain to 
see them rise. Calling his father, he said, " This 
must be a poor rule, for it will not work both ways. 
They knock each other down, but will not raise each 
other up." 

" Oh," said the father, " brick and mankind are alike, 
made of clay, active in knocking each other down, but 
no disposition to set each other up." 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 107 

THE DAM AND THE STREAM. 

" Do you think to stop me ? " said the water to the 
dam. 

" I intend to raise you," replied the dam. 

" But you cannot add to my quantity," said the 
stream. 

" No," returned the dam, " but I collect and retain a 
part of you that otherwise would run away." 

" What right have you to cross my path ? " demanded 
the brook. " I can bear up boats and allow bridges, 
but I dislike your name!' 

" Shallow water is easily disturbed," said the dam ; 
" If I give you more depth, you will be less irritable." 

" Remember," said the stream, " I gather strength by 
opposition." 

" Try your strength by turning the wheel," replied 
the dam. 

"I may tear as well as turn," said the water, "for I 
cannot consent to be dam'd." 

" I am the work of man," rejoined the dam, " and you 
the work of God. I am dead matter, you a living 
stream, and living water, like living faith, is essential to 
w r orks." 

" What ! " enquired the water, " do men dam me, 
and then expect me to bless them ? " 

" Yes," rejoined the dam, "for among mankind bene- 
factors ARE NEVER BENEFITED. 



108 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

THE PRIEST AND PROVIDENCE. 

A Priest in his theological speculations, unable to 
discern the ways and windings of Providence, admitted 
that clouds and darkness were round about him, but 
would not admit justice and judgment to be the habita- 
tion of his throne. Providence, taking him to the sum- 
mit of a mountain, bade him cast his eyes upon the 
valley beneath. 

He saw a mailed warrior, mounted upon a furious 
steed. He alighted and drank from a spring at the 
foot of the mountain. As he drank, he lost and left a 
bag of gold. Soon after, a young man in shepherd's 
garb came along, and, finding the gold, bore it away. 

An old man, bent in form, and slow in pace, now 
arrived at the spring and sat down to rest. The 
soldier, clad in armor, missing his treasure, returned in 
haste to the spring and accused the old man of having 
found and concealed his lost money. He solemnly 
denied the charge and protested his innocence in posi- 
tive terms, but the soldier enraged drew his sword and 
killed the old man on the spot. 

In surprise and wonder the priest exclaimed, " How 
couldst thou, O Providence, permit such a deed ? I 
know the old man was innocent." 

"You know but in part," replied Providence. "The 
old man was the murderer of the young man's father. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATJVELE 109 

Compensation is the law of existence. It must be the 
offence thou sawest should come, but woe be unto the 
soldier by whom the offence came." 

The priest was speechless, and Providence, wrapping 
himself in a cloud, disappeared. 

THE LITIGIOUS HENS, OR THE FOX AND HIS FEE. 

A hen having laid a litter of eggs, forsook them. 
Another hen finding the nest, adopted the eggs, and 
sitting the usual time, hatched them. 

The former hen claimed the chickens by virtue of 
having produced the eggs ; the latter on having brought 
them forth. 

They were on the eve of a pugilistic encounter when 
the cock, who ruled the roost, told them he allowed 
cackling, but had forbidden crowing, and should veto 
fighting. He decided the claimants should test their 

les by a legal trial. 

The first hen indicted the foster-mother, who had 
gathered her chickens under her wings, and the suit was 
brought before the Goose. 

Judge Goose, grave as he was gray, determining to 
imitate a human court, impaneled twelve goslings to 
compose his jury. 

The parent hen, to protect her brood from the power 
of the usurper, sought for able counsel. She was 
informed the Fox was an excellent lawyer, — well versed 



IIO MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

in fowl-law, having dissected a great many hens-cases. 
Our two heroines now met for the decision — which of 
the twain was the true mother of the living offspring. 

Judge Goose, in taking the bench of justice, shed a 
quill from his wing. Reynard picked it up from the 
floor and made a pen of it. 

Counsellor Fox then demanded of the court whether 
the pen he held in his hand belonged to himself or to 
the learned judge ? 

"When I dropped the quill," answered the judge, 
" I had no care for it or demand upon it. 'Twould be 
unjust in me to claim the pen, which I never made, or 
the quill, which to me was useless, and which I cast off 
as worthless." 

" By giving us the quill, you give the question," 
said the lawyer. " If the judge on the bench declares 
he has no lawful right to the pen, although wrought 
from a quill once in his own pinion, pray what legal 
claim has the plaintiff to this brood ? My client found 
the eggs as I found the quill — cast off and left exposed, 
and she has given them birth and breath, and if this is 
my pen those are her progeny." 

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant. 

" What is your bill ? " enquired the successful hen. 

" My bill ? " quoth the Fox, " your brood ! " 

" I mean your fee ! " said the terrified hen. 

" My fee ? " echoed the Fox, " your family." 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. in 

u You have gained your case, I understand/'' said a 
neighboring fowl. u Yes," replied the other, " but in 
gaining one case I have lost twelve chickens." 

ES^ A L a :. : er s fee is equal to the oppressor s demand. 
1 1:.::, v. 40. 

THE BRITISH LION AND AMERICAN EAGLE. 

An American armed ship and an English man-of- 
war were anchored side by side. 

The spread eagle, with the stars and stripes portrayed 
upon the flag was flying at the mast-head of the Yankee 
seL 

h ensign displaved her national colors — 
the lion and the crown. 

hen they first saw each other, the lion shook his 
mane ; upon which the Columbian eagle shot a lightning 
glan 

H Remember the roused lion can roar and rend," 
quoth Leo. 

•' The eagle is Ball'd," returned Aquila. 

•• I see your balls and bombs are in readiness," said 
the lion. 

u What you call balls and bombs are stars, represent- 
ing states," replied the eagle. 

" Yes, stars fallen ! fallen from the British crown," 
ejaculated the lion. 



112 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

" No," rejoined the eagle, "they are held in the right 
of Him who is greater than Washington/' 

" I see you still carry the stripes you received in 
chastisement for your rebellion, " remarked the lion. 

" By these stripes we are healed," said the eagle. 

" Healed of what ?" enquired the lion. 

" Of a King's-evil," answered the eagle ; " and since 
our cure we have had a good Constitution." 

" We are convinced of the strength of your Consti- 
tution," said the lion ; " we felt it in the destruction 
of one of our best frigates." 

" Can you inform me," interrogated the eagle, " what 
our chaplains mean when they allude to a way which 
the eagle s eye never saw, and the lion s whelp never 
trod?" 

" 'Tis the way of peace, — the gospel" quoth the lion ; 
" which if my nation knew they would not have chosen 
an unclean beast for their national escutcheon, nor would 
yours select an unclean bird. Our nations have chosen 
what God rejected." 

"Ah!" said the eagle, " when plowshares take the 
place of swords, a lamb will take your place, and a dove 
will occupy mine." 

the envied tree. 

A stately oak of towering height stood among the 
trees, the pride and monarch of the forest, His neigh- 



REV, GEORGE B. ATWELL. 113 

bors observed with uneasiness that some of his branches 
were larger than their bodies. They noticed, too, that 
the morning sun illumined his top with its earliest 
beams, and his evening rays lingered on him when lost 
to them. They saw that the king of birds sometimes 
settled on his boughs, but never on theirs. 

While they looked up to him, they could see he 
looked down on them. The disaffected trees met in 
private conclave, and the meeting was addressed by a 
Dwarf-pine. He set forth in his speech that the 
great oak was a cruel tyrant. " His roots," continued 
he, " spread far and wide, absorbing the strength of the 
soil, and robbing us of the moisture and nourishment 
which our life requires and our growth demands/' 

He was succeeded by a leafless Hemlock. " 'Tis 
impossible for us to flourish in the shade," quoth the 
hemlock ; " we are deprived the benefit of sun and 
showers, being overtopped by an overgrown nuisance." 

The Dog- wood growled, " Cut him down ; he's a 
cumberer of the ground." 

An old Hickory said, " I am opposed to monopoly. 
Now, true church or state policy looks to the good of 
posterity. If the acorns of this colossal tree take root 
and become anything like the parent stock, our race 
must become extinct." 

They made a contribution of walnuts, chestnuts, but- 
ternuts, etc., and voted the avails of their liberality to 
15 



n 4 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

the chopper, to hew down the great tree. The axe was 
now laid at the root of this noble-tree, — it fell. When 
falling it was heard to say, " Who can stand before 
envy f" It fell not alone. In its fall it crushed, bowed, 
bent, and broke its accusers, and they were held down 
to the ground by the massive trunk and giant arms of 
this prostrate tree. 

They were heard to say, " We caused his downfall, 
but did not anticipate that he would fall on usT 

" Come hither, son," said a wise father to his boy ; 
"look at this fallen tree; 'twas once above all the 
surrounding trees." "'Tis above them now, father," 
responded the boy, " for they are still beneath it." 

" True, son," said the father; " genuine greatness is 
always superior, whether in prosperity or adversity." 

THE FIVE SENSES. 

The five senses — seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, and 
smelling — appointed a meeting for discussion and de- 
bate. They held their caucus in the cranium, near the 
"bump" of self-esteem. 

The^ decided that the aiiimal was superior to the 
moral nature of man. They unanimously concluded 
that man's happiness and enjoyment consisted not in 
mental but in sensual exercise. 

They resolved to remove the seat of government 
from the brain to the palate. They determined that the 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 115 

faculties, Reason, Judgment, Will, Memory, and 
Conscience should be obedient to \hz passions. 

Flesh, and blood, and indeed the whole outward man 
went for the new administration. The Body, claiming 
preeminence, was bloated with importance, from a doc- 
trine promulgated that man had no Soul, that the doc- 
trine of the solar system was false, that the Spirit 
without the body was dead. 

The sedition produced a warring among the members. 

This war between flesh and spirit, like that of Michael 
and the Dragon, was long and doubtful. 

The understanding tried to mediate between the bel- 
ligerents. He darkened counsel, being biased by a 
very influential man whose name was Heart. This 
Heart was deceitful and wicked, and was the instigator 
of the war. The voice of reason and conscience was 
neither quick nor powerful, and like the voice of the 
Baptist was silenced. ' Twas not the word. The con- 
test was decided by the sword. The hidden man 
{Heart) was pricked. Although but a prick, the wound 
was mortal. It discharged much corruption. 'Twas 
taken away ; the old, dead man put off and a new man 
took his place. No more like the first than flesh is like 
a stone. Peace followed, and order was established. 
Under the new dispensation, old things having passed 
away, each power and faculty had their appropriate 
work assigned them. 



n6 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

The five senses, under the supervision of the under- 
standing — now enlightened — were to attend to external 
things. The faculties were to direct in rational and 
intellectual things. The graces which were added with 
the new heart were to be exercised on divine things. 
With this new nature, produced by a new birth, was 
given a new name, which had its origin at Antioch. 

woman's rights. 

Two vowels, U and /, meeting in a word, quarreled. 
Neither was willing to be silent, and it was evident 
only one could be sounded. U called / an egotist, and 
/accused U of usury and double dealing, by which he 
had doubled himself in W. They were both indicted 
before A, the magistrate who presided over the Alpha- 
bet. Each plead his own case. 

/, in his plea, stated to the judge that 'twas a law in 
syntax that I is the first person, and U the second ; 
and that 'twas written on the table of the human heart 
that / is always the first person, and U the second. 

U commenced his defence by enquiring what was 
meant by syntax ? Neither of us are in that word. If 
it is a tax laid on sin, and called a sin-tax, / is in it, for 
you will always find / in sin. My opponent, continued 
U y cites the law of the human heart, in proof of his 
position that / is the first person and U the second ; 
but does he not know that the whole heart, with its 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 11/ 

entire code, must be revised, corrected, and changed? 
But " I hope," said U, " the judge, in his decision, will 
be no respecter of persons!' 

A advised the parties to call in the third persons, and 
submit the question to them. To this they agreed, 
and He, She, and It were called. A expressed a hope 
that they would now agree in gender, number, person, 
and case. 

It, the last and least, was challenged off, because of 
his neutrality. But He and She could agree no better 
than £7 and I. Although the twain were of one flesh, 
they were not of one spirit. 

He, being masculine, did not like to associate upon 
the bench with a feminine judge. But She claimed her 
right on the ground of equality. " We are one," quoth 
she, " in the same person — both of us in the third per- 
son ; but don't think of crowding me into the fourth." 

The litigation between £/and /was left undecided; 
and in the mean time, great / instructed little i to look 
up to his dot, which, like a star, was placed above him ; 
"and when you rise high enough to reach your dot, 
you will be like myself, a capital /." 

" What is my dot for ? " inquired little i. 

" It represents an eye, my son; and you must always 
remember nothing can see but an /." 

She took in high dudgeon the question of her right 
and qualification to the bench, and determined from 



II 8 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

the pulpit to appeal to the people. With power and 
effect she set forth the scriptural fact of the unity and 
oneness of the male and female, and raising her voice 
to a masculine pitch, exclaimed, " Let not man put 
them asunder ;" enforcing and strengthening her 
argument by saying, " when clothes were first made 
and worn, He and She were dressed precisely alike ; 
and in Eden's bloom, Eve was a Bloomer." 

The weaker vessels began to gather up their strepgth, 
and became clamorous and vociferous for their rights. 

He, of the third person, said 'twas the popular belief 
that woman was taken out of man's side, but he rather 
questioned her being made of man's rib, for she gave 
more proof of being made of his jaw, and he thought it. 

Im-moral 
For the woman to usurp authority over the man. 

LAME AND LAZY. 

Two beggars, Lame and Lazy, were in want of 
bread. One leaned on his crutch, the other reclined 
on his couch. 

Lame called on Charity and humbly asked for a 
cracker. Instead of a cracker he received a loaf. 

Lazy, seeing the gift of Charity, exclaimed, " What ! 
ask a cracker and receive a loaf ? Well, I will ask for 
a loaf, and I shall expect a load of bread ; or, if I ask a 
biscuit, she will give me a batch of bread." 






REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 119 

Lazy now applied to Charity, and called for a loaf of 
bread. "Your demanding a loaf," said Charity, "proves 
you a loafer. You are of that class and character who 
ask and receive not ; you ask amiss." 

Lazy, who always found fault, not fortune, and had 
rather whine than work, complained of ill treatment, 
and even accused Charity of a breach of an exceeding 
great and precious promise — Ask and you shall re- 
ceive. 

Charity pointed him to a painting in her room, which 
presented to his vision three personages, Faith, Hope, 
and Charity. Charity appeared larger and fairer than 
her sisters. 

He noticed her right hand held a pot of honey which 
fed a bee, disabled, having lost its wings. Her left 
hand was armed with a whip to keep off the drones. 

" Don't understand it," said Lazy. 

Charity replied, " It means that Charity feeds the 
lame and flogs the lazy!' 

THE BIBLE AND THE LAMP. 

A new Bible was purchased and placed in a fashiona- 
ble pulpit. Two elegant lamps, standing at each end 
of the silken cushion, shed modern light on the sacred 
book. 

One of the lamps bespoke the Bible thus : "Men 
appreciate your worth ; they have gilded you with 
gold." 



120 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

" They have covered me with gilt" replied the Bible, 
" but I am not guilty" 

" You are bound in calf, I perceive/' said the lamp. 

" Not bound, but often bent by a calf," returned the 
Bible. 

"You contain things new and old/' observed the 
lamp ; " old truth, and new tables and plates." 

"Alas!" said the Bible, "my tables contain no bread, 
nor my plates food." 

"You have been honored with new editions" said 
the lamp. 

"And dishonored by additions" responded the Bible. 

" Why is the Apocrypha placed between your Testa- 
ments ? " inquired the lamp. 

"The Old Testament was my body, the New Testa- 
ment my soul, which my author joined, and men have 
put asunder, making me a dead letter" said the Bible. 

"Why, I often hear of Bible union" said the lamp. 

"You hear of Bible, but see Church and State, union ; 
and since that compact, like Him who inspired me, I 
have been between two thieves — one has robbed me of 
my promises, the other of my threatenings. Now, the 
Church has but little faith in what I promise, and the 
world less fear in what I threaten." 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 121 

RELIGION AND SUPERSTITION. 

Religion and Superstition, traveling different ways, 
met. Superstition, having sore eyes, could not look on 
anything bright, so she shut her eyes as Religion 
approached. Superstition saluted Religion as her 
friend and ally. 

" I never knew you," said Religion. 

"Never knew me!" ejaculated Superstition. "Why, 
in your name and for your cause I have done many 
wonderful works. The zeal I have in your interest 
hath eaten me up. In you I have implicit faith, which 
I will show by my works." 

Superstition now pointed to a well, into which a 
yew had just fallen. A Christian came with a ladder 
and began to let it down the well. 

" Nay, nay," said the Jew, " 'tis the seventh day ; I 
would not climb even Jacob's ladder on our holy 
Sabbath." 

The fiery zeal of the Israelite was much cooled by 
the next morning, and he called in good earnest to the 
Christian to bring the ladder. 

" No, God forbid ! " retorted the Christian ; " to-day 
is our Sabbath. 

" There," said Superstition, with an air of triumph, 
" you see my power over Jew and Gentile — " 

" The Jew will suffer rather than sin, and the Chris- 
16 



122 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

tian is so alive to duty that he's dead to charity'' inter- 
rupted Religion. 

Superstition was speechless, and still remained sight- 
less, and appeared in her true character — a blind guide. 
The Hebrew saw she not only led men into the ditch, 
but compelled them to stay there ; and learned that 
Superstition would not save a man, when Religion 
would relieve a sheep. 

The Christian noticed that Superstition held the 
creed and crucifix, while Religion retained cheerfulness 
and charity. 

" Religion would have saved me a terrible cold," said 
the Jew. 

" We are both taught," responded the Christian, " to 
relieve misery by acts of mercy. Superstition makes 
the day more than duty, and Religion makes duty more 
than the day." 

THE BALLOON. 

A Balloon ascended amid the shouts and huzzas of 
the gazing multitude. Inflated with air it arose high, 
and the higher it soared the less it appeared. Proud 
of its elevation, and vain of the attention of the rabble, 
it looked down from its eminence with an air of satis- 
faction and conscious superiority. Despising the earth 
and its inhabitants, and feeling far above them, it sought 
and courted the higher class of society, the Clouds. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 123 

The Clouds received the stranger with a misty look, 
and gave what he considered a cool reception. Ambi- 
tious to associate with the highest grade, the Balloon 
doubted not that he should be able to reach the Stars 
by Sun-set, where his worth would be appreciated, and 
the honors due him promptly paid. 

Swelling beyond his strength, he burst. Driven by 
the wind here, and urged by the current there, he found 
that he had lost everything but his ballast, and learned 
a new lesson, which was that ballast tended downward. 
He fell in an uncultivated field of stones and bushes. 

" I went up," said he, "amid the cheers and acclama- 
tions of thousands. Now, here I lie in ruins, the neg- 
lect and scorn of my former admirers." 

A gentle breeze whispered as it passed him, " Pride 
may take a rise, but it must have a fall." 

Moral. 

'Tis dangerous to fall from high places, and difficult 
to maintain them. 

When wings are more than weight, a man may rise 
without merit, but he will fall without mercy. 

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit 
before a fall. 

THE SINGLE EYE. 

A man, having lost an eye, greatly bewailed his mis- 
fortune, and complained against fate, and even mur- 



124 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

mured at Providence. Providence reminded him that 
the loss of his eye was the result of his own careless- 
ness, and that sorrowing for it would not restore the 
lost, nor strengthen the remaining one, and recom- 
mended to him patience and submission. 

'' I am not on par with mankind in common/' said 
the man ; " they have two eyes ; I have but one. What 
can I do now ? My neighbors have two eyes to my 
one." 

Providence replied, " Double-eyed men often shut 
both, and a single eye kept open sees farther than two 
eyes kept shut." 

Providence now stationed the complainer among 
blind men. The blind, who had so often fallen into the 
ditch, rejoiced that there was one among them who 
could see. They immediately elected hirn as their 
leader, and were unanimous in their vote that he should 
be their only guide. 

A remedy being discovered for his lost sight, Provi- 
dence offered him a double restoration: ist, sight to 
his eye, and, 2d, a return from the society of the blind 
to dwell again among men of discernment. 

" No," replied the man ; "I had rather dwell where 
I have one eye more than the common people than to 
live where I have one eye less." 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 125 

Moral 

Men had rather be leaders among the blind than to 
be led by those who can see better than they. 

FATE AND FREE-WILL. 

Fate declared to Free-will that all things were 
irrevocably fixed by an eternal and unalterable decree. 
"Yea," continued Fate, "no influence, circumstance, 
or agency can have any control over events ; nor can 
any power whatever break a single link in the chain of 
decrees." 

"Your chain of decrees," replied Free-will, "like a 
log-chain drawn through a post-hole, runs not smooth. 
It rubs hard against free-agency, cuts off accountability, 
makes man a machine, and his Maker a tyrant." 

" Volition, will, power of choice, and liberty of action, 
rest not on you, but depend on me," said Free-will. 

" You are but the agent of my will," said Fate ; "still 
you are rightly named Free-will, as one of your own 
poets has said, 'Binding nature fast in fate, left free 
the human will? " 

"We cannot walk together, we are not agreed," said 
Free-will. 

" But we cannot' separate," said Fate. " Now, 'tis 
decreed that you shall leave this house." 

"'Tis my will to stay here," said Free-will. 



126 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

" If you do stay/' said Fate, " then is my doctrine 
false." 

" If I do not continue where I am, in spite of you, 
Fate, then record my doctrine as false. " 

Fate, by the agency of a servant in the house, kindled 
such a fire that the heat and smoke so annoyed Free- 
will that he was compelled to come out, and so fulfilled 
the decree and prediction of Fate. 

" You have come out," said Fate. 

" Not by your decree," said Free-will ; " I came out 
from choice." 

THE OLD SERPENT. 

A serpent, gliding through the grass, attempted to 
make the acquaintance and test the contents of a jug, 
or bottle, that had been left to itself and forgotten. In 
his coilings and turnings he became entangled in the 
handle and was unable to extricate himself. He peti- 
tioned the jug to release him from durance vile. 

"No," was the reply, "the Bottle releases no prison- 
ers that are brought into bondage by Appetite!' 

Writhing and twisting, he only found himself still 
more hopelessly fastened. He knew that his life must 
be short, and, being wily, made his will. He bequeathed 
himself, tooth and tail, scale and skin, to the jug to 
which he was now attached. His head could reach 
the cork, and, drawing it out, he deposited his poison 
within, and died. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 127 

His children and servants preserved him in spirits, 
and entombed him in the jug, upon which was inscribed 
in letters of fire, 

" The Sepulchre of the Old Serpent." 

Moral. 

Beware of the Bottle. Ponder the parable and find 
proof in the Proverbs that it will bite like a serpent and 
sting like an adder. 



CHAPTER XI. 

SEPARATION. 

In the year 1863, January 19th, his wife died. The 
following memorial, written at the time, finds its appro- 
priate place in these sketches : 

IN MEMORIAM. — OUR MOTHER. 

Died in Pleasant Valley, Conn., on Monday, January 
19th, after a short illness, Mary M., wife of Rev. George 
B. Atwell, in the sixty-fifth year of her age. 

It is not long since the above paragraph appeared in 

the , to be read and passed over by careless, 

stranger eyes, although it may have been that some 
other, upon whom desolation hath come like a whirl- 
wind, paused at the simple notice wi£h the thought, " I 
am not alone in sorrow ; another home is made deso- 
late ; other hearts, too, are bleeding." Death is the 
great leveler, the great subduer, and mutual sorrow 
may bring into sympathy hearts that would of neces- 
sity have remained to each other cold and strange. 

It is not because our departed one was so great or 
so gifted that we write of her, that it has become so 
dear a pleasure to render this tribute to her memory; 
17 



l 3 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

it is because what remains to us of her is sweeter than 
fame, dearer and more lovable than many gifts, that a 
slight sketch of her life has been deemed not out of 
place. Ever present with us, now, is the memory of 
the gentle ways, the loving look, the shielding care, the 
cheerful, resigned spirit, the patience under suffering, 
the self-denying life, the tender sympathy in every joy 
and sorrow, and the countless things that are contin- 
ually springing from the depths of a mother's love, 
which, could we but heed their full significance, must 
make daily life almost too sweet to be borne. So infi- 
nitely tender and infinitely enduring is the tie that 
binds the child to the mother, and the mother to the 
child. Nothing that is given us to know on earth can 
exceed it, except that which binds the Saviour to his 
redeemed children. 

The subject of this notice was born in 1787, and, as 
far as we can look back and remember, her life has 
been a remarkably unselfish one. Her character must 
needs be called beautiful, because, as far as outward 
eyes can see, there was so little to blemish it. Retiring 
and reserved in her nature, she loved the quiet, peace- 
ful walks of life, and it was here that her influence was 
felt ; an influence almost silent and imperceptible, yet 
far stronger and deeper than we knew. Most precious 
to her surviving family has been the testimony, when 
one and another of the surrounding friends and neigh- 



REV. GEORGE B. ATJVELL. 131 

bors have come in, and with trembling lip and stream- 
ing eyes have said, " Oh, she has been a mother to me; 
I feel as if I could not have it so!" or, " I feel that I 
have lost a friend indeed ; it seems as if she could not 
be spared." 

It is also strongly characteristic of her that so many 
of her works should not become visible until after her 
death. Here, we find, was an important work all fin- 
ished, and in its right time, but how or when we do 
not know; there, too, a blessed deed was done — when, 
we cannot tell ; but the good effects still live to speak 
to us of the angel that has been with us. and almost 
unawares. Her manner w r as remarkably unobtrusive, 
yet underneath was a singular firmness of purpose, 
which might be called the ruling passion of her life ; a 
something calm and steadfast as the mountains, by 
which every plan was carried out, regardless of obsta- 
cles, and every work which her hand was set to do 
accomplished, almost imperceptibly, yet most faith- 
fully — the plan and the work, in the meantime, relating 
not to herself ] but always for some one in the circle of 
those she loved. 

Her unselfishness and habitual singleness of thought 
and action made her a natural peace-maker. Slander 
and calumny seemed never to hurt her; they could not 
penetrate the atmosphere in which she lived, but would 
fall at her feet as harmless as drops of summer rain. 



132 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

Her Christian walk has ever been in keeping with her 
character. Like other persons of a reserved nature, 
she rarely talked of her own experiences; but those 
who were most familiar with her daily life knew it was 
hes religion that permeated and governed it. It was 
given her during her declining years to know much of 
physical suffering, and the uncomplaining submission, 
patience, and fortitude with which it was accepted and 
borne, are of the kind that God gives only to his 
beloved. So, calm, even, and peaceful, with a faith 
strong in an overruling Providence, whatever the ills 
that life might bring, this true and gentle friend, this 
faithful sister, this loving and patient wife and mother, 
this angel of the household, came down, at last, to the 
River of Death. The heavens opened, the angels 
descended, she was borne from our sight, and the 
hearts left behind must ache and throb with untold 
longings. 

And yet, when we gazed upon the dear clay, from 
which one of God's sweetest spirits had gone back to 
its Giver, we could not but feel that Death is not all 
sorrow. We wish we could say to every one to whom 
the sorrow of death is like to come, that God will not 
leave you alone with broken ties and hearts. He does 
not leave His children comfortless ; He comes to us, 
and opens sources of consolation that we knew not of, 
and which to the mourner are passing sweet. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 133 

But oh ! it is a terrible thing when Death lays his 
hand upon one dearer to us than our life. It is a great 
sorrow to look upon the dead face,, to clasp those cold, 
cold fingers, and to see, through tearful eyes, 

•• A light on dearest brows. 
Which is the daylight only."* 

What can we mortals do, then, but ask God to be 
pitiful unto us ? Still more crushing is the desolation 
of the days and weeks that must follow. Ah; what 
can we do, then, but take the patience and the resigna- 
tion which the departed one will never need again, 
bind it close unto our own hearts, and thus live waiting 
for the reunion that God will grant unto His children 
by and by ? h. g. a. 



CHAPTER XII. 

AUTUMN. 

The great earthly love was broken, and receiving 
and accepting its lessons, we see this consecrated life 
rounding itself out into the fulness and richness of the 
Golden Year. No longer an acting pastor, he still 
remained an active minister. Still he visited schools, 
officiated at funerals, and supplied pulpits. 

A friend writes, " I owe my first awakening to a ser- 
mon preached by Rev. Mr. Atwell upon the ' resurrec- 
tion/ — text, ' I am a worm.' I wish I might see it in 
print." 

Only parts of it have been preserved entire, which 
we here give : 

" A worm has no bones, no hands, no feet, no wings 
to fly, no fins to swim. It has no friends ; it is loathed 
by all, desired by none, a creeping, crawling, hated 
reptile. Why should any be ashamed of poor relations ? 
Job said to the worm, Thou art my sister, and to corrup- 
tion, thou art my mother. . . . 

" All the strength of the worm lies in its head ; with it, 
it cuts a path through the hardest wood. It lives with- 
out voice and dies without sound. It spins its own 



136 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

shroud, makes its own coffin, and lies in its self-made 
tomb, by which no mourners stand and where no tears 
are shed. . . . 

" See the entombed worm in the little coffin that we 
call a cocoon ! It seems a shapeless mass and worthless 
matter, yet from the shroud and coffin of that worm, we 
reel the finest silk. In texture, strength, beauty, and 
worth, it surpasses the flexile hemp, the fleecy wool, 
and silvery flax, and the lofty monarch on the imperial 
throne is proud to wear the silken sheen, wrought from 
the remains of a loathsome worm. See the peerless 
queen, with her jeweled diadem ! Her attire of 
pompous state was spun from the reptile worm. 

" They divided my garments among them, and for my 
vesture did they east lots! 

u But can a worm rise again ? How shall it rise ? 
In what body shall it come ? Doth God take care for 
worms ? 

" Why should it be thought incredible with you that 
God should raise the worms ? You have seen the 
poor, creeping, crawling, loathsome reptile, shrouded, 
coffined, and entombed. The winter passes, and 
throughout air, earth, and ocean, all nature quickens 
with miraculous new birth. Trees put on beautiful 
robes, and verdant Spring, redolent with blossoms, 
presents to the sun its loveliest hues. 

" What beautiful creature do we see perched upon a 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 137 

rose ? With crested head and brilliant eyes, and wings 
sprinkled with gold, it flits, in exquisite beauty, from 
flower to flower. It has wings, legs, and feet, and in 
all its proportions its symmetry is almost divine. 
Whence cometh the beautiful thing ? The Butterfly, 
admired and sought, was once a crawling worm, 
loathed and shunned," etc. 

The following incident comes from Cornwall Hollow, 
Connecticut. 

u I remember the first time that I saw Mr. Atwell. 
I was a young man, and had just come into possession of 
the first colt I ever owned. I had heard much of him, 
and concluded to ride horseback to the Baptist church 
and hear him preach. Arriving very early, I hitched 
horse, and, to while away my time, went for a walk. 
When I returned, the colt was missing. It was at a 
point where the roads met, and I was at a loss as to 
which to take in search of him, when the next moment 
the animal appeared, headed towards the church, 
guided by a ministerial looking man, sitting bolt 
upright on his back. k That's the minister,' said one, 
and so it proved. He had started to walk to the 
church, and meeting the runaway horse, caught him, 
leaped upon his back, and delivered him safely to the 
owner." 

In 1866, the Baptist church was removed from 

Pleasa::: Valley and located in New Hartford, but Mr. 
18 



138 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

Atwell did not forsake it. He identified himself with 
its interests, and " Father Atwell," with his white-faced 
" Chuck," will long be remembered in the vicinity, for 
his regular Sunday morning pilgrimages between 
Pleasant Valley and New Hartford. To the church, he 
was a Father in Israel, a pastor of pastors, and the 
memory of him is blessed in the hospitable homes, where 
from week to week he was so kindly and lovingly 
welcomed. 

About this time, he was aware of indications of a 
certain disease of the heart, in connection with which 
a physiological fact is worth the noting. It now 
became with him a daily study to so control this 
"balance-wheel of his constitution," that the natural 
harmony of his mental conditions might continue, and 
the use of his faculties be retained to the close of his 
life. From this time forth, we see him "walking 
softly," day by day, as if in the light of another world ; 
husbanding physical and intellectual strength, testing 
his own theories by counterbalancing out-of-door labor 
with mental exercise of reading and writing. He would 
say, " If I would escape dotage, I must keep my mental 
faculties bright by use. As soon as I give up, I am 
gone. Not that I fear death, but it is everyone's right 
and duty to live as long as they can." 

He read extensively, and kept up with the activities 
of the times. He preached occasionally, wrote much, 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 139 

was an interesting talker, and his utterances seemed to 
gain rather than lose in freshness of thought. 

While on a visit in New Brunswick, N. J., he 
attended an African church, and being requested to 
speak, he delighted the dark-faced audience by the 
following allusion: 

" Europe, Asia, and Africa, all took a part in the 
crucifixion of Christ. Noah gave those three divisions 
to his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. To 
Shem he gave Asia, to Japheth he gave Europe, to 
Ham he gave Africa. 

"The Jews took their origin from Shem ; they accused, 
tried, and condemned Christ. The Romans or Gentiles 
crucified Him. But what part did Africa take in the 
crucifixion ? An African bore the cross after yestis, 
and the African race have borne the cross ever since!' 

When the late Rev. E. Cushman, then editor of the 
Christian Secretary, was suffering severely from an 
abscess in his hand, he received the following 

CONSOLATORY EPISTLE. 

Bro. Cushman, — You are maimed. Well, I'm glad 
of it. ... Can you see by star light ? If you can, 
you'll see why I'm glad. Glad, because you'll have 
better health, by far, than formerly. That abscess or 
gathering, locating in your hand, is remote from your 
vitals, drawing the morbid humors from the seat of 



140 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

vitality. For many months past your heart has been 
much better than your liver. You must eat bread by 
the sweat of your brain, as well as brow ; you will find 
your brow cooler and brain clearer after this scourge 
of small cords ; for the temple needs cleansing. 
Sometimes you've been yellow without and blue within ; 
albeit, the heavens are oftener blue than black. In a 
few days you'll see and hear the blue bird. She'll carry 
the sky on her back, and the spring in her song. A 
bird of good omen to you, healing in her wings. 

Second reason why I'm glad : It brings out the sym- 
pathy of your friends. Sympathy is not flattery. Flat- 
tery, unlike physic, makes every one sick except the 
one who takes it. 

A Christian gains by his losses ; an anti-Christian 
loses by his gains. Job's friends were reprovers, yours 
are comforters. Satan smote Job with boils, and he 
boiled over. He has not smitten you with boils, but 
with bile. However, when a pot boils the scum rises 
on the top and can be thrown off. 

Paul says, " I take pleasure in infirmities" ; why ? it 
secured him the sympathy of his friends. King Asa 
was diseased in his feet. He sought not the Lord, but 
physicians ; his sin did not lie in consulting, but in 
trusting to them. Halt, lame, blind, leprous, maimed 
came to Christ. Doctrine. — Infirmity brings us to 
Christ. 



REV, GEORGE B. ATWELL. 141 

Third reason why I'm glad : You can't be made per- 
fect except through suffering. Pleasure and prosperity 
and popularity never did and never can work out a far 
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Light 
afflictions work a weight of good. Such kind cf men 
as John, Job, and Jonah, seemed not aware that their 
perfection must come through suffering. Why did 
John doubt Christ's Messiahship ? why did Job curse 
his day, and desire his night ? why did Jonah from the 
prince of Whales fill his belly with the east wind ? He 
found his gourd, not his God. Impatience was the 
cause. Widow Martha had a younger sister, Mary. 
Martha wanted to feed Christ, Mary wanted Christ to 
feed her. Martha lost her peace when she lost her 
patience. Nota Bene. — Patience will do you more good 
than pain can do you harm. G. B. A. 

Here is one of his contributions to the CJiristian 
Secretary : 

MORE EXCELLENT NAME THAN THEY. 

Than who ? Than the angels. Angels charged with 
folly ? Their folly appears in their fall. I would rather 
be a man than to be an angel, for the following reasons : 

First, they can never attain a far more exceeding, 
and eternal weight of glory ; it can be gained only 
through suffering. Christ himself was not made per- 
fect by doing, but by suffering. u Who are these," in- 



142 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

quired the interrogating angel, " arrayed in white robes, 
and whence came they ? " Response — " These are they 
who came out of great tribulation." Then they could 
not be angels, who know no tribulation or suffering. 

Second, I would rather be a man than an angel, be- 
cause angels can never be heirs of God and joint heirs 
with Christ. Joint heir means equal heir. What do 
angels know concerning the cross, having never borne 
it ? or of pain, sorrow, or bereavement ? What of per- 
secution, injuries, and abuse? What of troubles, trials, 
doubts, fears, and foes ? Nothing. What can the 
angels know of that charity which suffers long, beareth 
all things, endureth all things, loves an enemy, prays for 
a foe, and forgives a mortal antagonist ? Here is where 
Christ and Christians can sympathize. Angels may 
desire to look but cannot enter into it. " What, know 
ye not that the saints shall judge angels ?" 

"THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MIGHT HAVE THE PRE- 
EMINENCE." 

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, — in 
neither sinning. Here we see his preeminence. 

Moses turned water to blood. Christ turned water 
to wine. 

From Sinai and Moses was proclaimed the curse ; 
from Olivet and Jesus, blessing. The law which con- 
demns came from Moses. The gospel which justifies 
from Christ. 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 143 

Elijah called fire from heaven, and slew an hundred 
men. Christ came not to destroy men's lives, but to 
save them. 

Elisha cursed children. Christ took them into his 
arms and blessed them. 

Paul smote a man with blindness. Christ opened 
the eyes of the blind. 

Peter struck two persons dead. Christ raised people 
from the dead. 

Judas betrayed, Peter denied, and all forsook. " My 
God ! my God ! why hast Thou forsaken me ?" 

The cock crowed, and Peter cried. Judas kissed his 
Master, and hanged himself. 

Christ never denied, never betrayed, never forsook 
one. 

Rev. Mr. Crocker of New Hampshire, writes : 

"The first time I had the privilege of meeting with 

Father Atwell was the day of my ordination It 

fell to his lot to give me the charge, only a little of 
which I can repeat. I retain the general nature, but 
cannot give the exact language used. Among other 
things, he wished to impress upon my mind that 'God 
took Moses from the water because He had a use for 
him ; and God took me from the w r ater (I had formerly 
been a sailor) because He had a use, he believed, for me. 
He wanted me to make much of the children, and to 
remember that they were the first martyrs under the 



I 4 4 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

Gospel dispensation. My work was to break stony 
hearts and mend broken ones ; the Scriptures the ham- 
mer to do the one, and the balm with which to heal the 
latter. Preach nothing up but Christ, and the doctrine 
which is according to godliness ; nothing down but the 
Devil, and whatever is contrary to sound doctrine. Re- 
member the Master rebuked the disciples because they 
returned to their nets after he called them to be fishers 
of men.' I do not recall just the order of these things, 
but remember that they were all mentioned, as well as 
some sayings contained in the letter he afterwards 
wrote me." 

The following are taken from the said letter : 

" Many ministers, like the moon, give light but no 
heat ; full of changes, often eclipsed, and when full 
grow no larger." 

" Christ first bore the cross, then the cross bore Him. 
He was nailed to the cross, and you know what he 
nailed to it." Colossians ii, 14. 

" Pray for, but never prey on, your people." 

u Preach the Word ; many preach the voice. 

"IKS^John was the voice, not the word. John had a 
cubit taken from his stature ; he decreased ; perhaps all 
the Baptists must, for they have had no earthly head 
since John lost his." 

When Mr. Atwell was eighty years old, he was re- 
quested to attend the funeral of the venerable Deacon 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 145 

Daniel Deming of South Colebrook. The appointed 
day brought the most violent snow-storm of the season. 
Braving the weather, he rode to Colebrook and officiated 
at the funeral. A few weeks afterward the following 
appeared in the Christian Secretary: 

" DEACON DEMING. 

" Father Atwell of Pleasant Valley, writes concern- 
ing Dea. Daniel Deming of South Colebrook, whose 
death at the- age of 87 years, we noticed last week : 

'"He came to us from another generation, and has 
gone up to a higher, who are wiser in their generation 
than the children of this world. He has left that 
which is better than precious ointment, — a good name; 
and not unlike ointment, his name is still fragrant. 
Mary's ointment was very precious, and purchased and 
preserved for her a good name, which sheds a rich 
perfume even unto this day. 

" f Deacon Deming was not only a cup-bearer, but 
a standard-bearer, a cross-bearer, and a for-bearer. 
Charity taught him to 'bear all things/ and not only to 
bear but to bleed. He was a veteran Christian, having 
embraced Christ (or, more properly, Christ embraced 
him) at the age of five years, in 1793, though not bap- 
tized until the year 1806. It has been a proverbial 
saying among seamen that ' a sailor should be all one 
as a piece of the ship;' and as Paul once advised ' abide 
19 



146 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

in the ship/ so Dea. Deming identified himself with 
the church, considering it as a unit, a ' body/ which 
had need and use for all its members. Rain, not even 
from Heaven, could keep him from the house of God, 
which is the household of faith ; having passed a watery- 
grave he had no fear of a watery cloud. 

" ' May we not hope that it will be with his mantle 
as with that of Elijah ? What though it fell ? It arose 
again, unrent, untorn, and old Jordan owned its power.'" 

Mr. Atwell enjoyed letter-writing, and had many 
correspondents, which, no doubt, helped to keep his 
mind active, and his thoughts fresh. An extract from 
a letter that he received from the late Hon. Francis 
Gillette embodies a bit of history : 

" When you remarked that God had been my guard- 
ian and helper else I had been slain, your words brought 
vividly before me a night-scene in the Senate twenty 
years ago. As I was speaking for truth and freedom, 
the slave lordlings gathered around me, scowling wrath 
and defiance. They tried to brow-beat and intimidate 
me to silence, but I kept on, nothing daunted, feeling 
mighty girdings around me, when one of the pack, with 
secret weapons on his person, as I had every reason to 
think, confronted me for a moment, then rushed by, 
brushing hard against my side, his purpose plainly 
being to provoke resistance that he might have a pre- 
text for stabbing me. He was one of the ugliest and 
maddest of the fire-eaters, C. C. Clay of Alabama. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 147 

"It was a night of great excitement ; several senators 
were more or less intoxicated, and I did not realize the 
danger I was in. 

" It has been unaccountable to me ever since how I 
escaped, on any other principle than the one which 
your kind words suggested, and the same that David 
recognized when he said : ' It is God that avengeth me. 
He deliver eth me from mi}ie enemies. Thou hast deliv- 
ered me from the violent man! 

"I have a pamphlet copy of the speech given on that, 
to me, ever memorable occasion, which I will loan you, 
should you desire it. Some day it may come to be 
regarded as a curiosity in Congressional literature. 

" Concerning my dear father, of whom you desired 
some reminiscences, or sketches, I remember my 
mother's telling me that he began to preach when 17 
years old, greatly to the displeasure and stern opposi- 
tion of his father, then a Congregational deacon, inso- 
much he would not hear him. Finally, he was per- 
suaded to go and hear the persistent boy, and was so 
surprised and convinced that the Spirit of God was 
upon him, that his opposition was turned to thankful- 
ness for such a son, on whom he bestowed his fatherly 
blessing and a hearty Godspeed. 

" I am, dear sir, most filially yours, 

" Fra s . Gillette. 

" Hartford, Dec. 20, '75." 



148 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

The following messages may not be without interest 
to those for whom they were written : 

LETTER TO POOR MINISTERS. 

You are poor, but you have a rich Father. Be at 
peace with poverty ; it is your protector from beggars 
and burglars ; it is a great abater of taxes, and an 
attracter of sympathies. It is the parent of economy, 
and a great promoter of industry. 

The priests of yore were allowed no inheritance 
among the brethren. Do you say " that was under the 
law"? Look at your High Priest in the Gospel! 
What though He was often with the rich in His life, 
in His death He was not of the rich. 

He made His will, and in the codicil He left you a 
legacy. His will is brief, as is His prayer ; neverthe- 
less, 'tis the Lord's Will. 

Christ's will. 

' ist. His soul He bequeathed to God. 2d. His body 
He gave to Joseph of Arimathea. 3d. His back He 
gave to the smiters. 4th. His clothes to the soldiers. 
Now comes your legacy. " Peace be unto you. My 
peace I give unto you. My peace I leave with you." 

Peace is a pearl of great price. Peace and patience 
are twin graces. In your patience, you may possess 
your soul ; but in your impatience, Satan possesses it 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 149 

Your poverty has one peculiar property. Providence 
is visible in poverty and tangible in adversity, but 
often totally eclipsed in worldly prosperity. Prosperity 
is the promise of the Old Testament, adversity is the 
promise of the New. 

Wealth has wings and poverty has weight. Those 
who have wealth have never enough ; those who have 
poverty have enough and desire no more. Can riches 
give such entire satisfaction ? 



LETTER TO OLD MINISTERS. 

I am well stricken in years, and well straightened in 
more senses than one. Like a last year's almanac, I 
have had my day and am out of date. It is hard for 
me to put off the old man, and still harder to put off the 
" old boy." Solus and solitary, I muse much, but 
never tamper with the muses. Striving to abstract my 
mind from transitory things, I sometimes fall into a 
trance. Balaam did the same with his eyes open, but 
could not see as well as his long-eared companion. 
Listen, however, to my vision. 

I detect your disease. It is hereditary ; it will 
mature and prove mortal. It was entailed to you from 
your father. He lived to be nine and a third centuries 
old, and died of the disorder of which you are now in 
the incipient stage, viz., Old Age. 

The beauty of old men is the gray head. Prov. xx. 29. 



ISO MEMORIAL SKETCHES' OF 

Those little silver threads in your hair remind you of 
the silver cord. What though it may be loosed, not a 
single silver hair shall be lost. What though Elisha's 
head was bald, his heart was bold. A bald head may 
"go up," while a crowned head must surely come 
down. 

Your father died old, your Elder Brother young. One 
is the old, the other the new man. You will soon put 
off the one and put on the other. Having borne the 
image of the earthly, you will soon bear the image of 
the Heavenly. After death you grow no older. The 
mind never grows old and never dies. Growth implies 
youth, and immortality is youth without decay. 



SERMON FOR YOUNG MINISTERS. 

Prayer. 

O Lord, Thou hast committed a heavenly treasure to 
earthly vessels. Like the widow's vessel, 'tis kept full, 
not by pouring in, but by pouring out. May the young 
shepherds go forth bearing the crook and cross. May 
they take no scrip, but always take Scripture. While 
they bring glad tidings, may they give good warnings. 
May they not seek to feed themselves, but the sheep. 
While they feed the sheep, may they fight the wolf. 
May they preach the word and practice the worship. 
May they never fear a foe or fail a friend. May they 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 151 

preach nothing up but Christ, nothing down but the 
devil. Amen. 

Note before Sermon. 

Young men, you'll now be instructed, not by a 
seraph, but by a serpent. You are young preachers, 
he's an old one. He's as wise as a serpent. 

A snake lay basking in the sun. In one of its 
gyrations, the tail, coming nigh unto, thus addressed 
the head: "You have always gone before and I 
behind. To equalize our rights, if you please, I'll go 
forward." 

" I'm better fitted," quoth the head, " to lead, than 
yourself; I've the eyes, the ears, the mouth, and sense 
of smelling." 

" Tis evident," replied the tail, " that I was designed 
to go forward, from my long tapering point. Why, my 
dear head, when men drive nails does not the point 
go first? When ladies use pins and needles, does not 
the point, not the head, go forward ? " 

" Nails, needles, and pins," answered the head, " are 
things, not animals. If I carry the brain, should I not 
lead ? " 

" There's a prophecy that you shall be bruised," 
retorted the tail ; " against me there's no such threaten- 
ing ; therefore 'twould be safer for the body to follow 



152 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

me. I propose/' continued the tail, " that we submit 
the question to the body." 

The body, given to change, decided in favor of the 
tail, and concluded that experiment would show which 
of the two was the better guide. The tail now assumed 
the province of a guide, and took the leadership author- 
ized by the body. The body moved backward and the 
whole course was retrograde. The tail, in attempting 
to pass between two close-standing stubs, and meeting 
the swell of the body, came to a full stop, and was 
immovably fixed. The body, in pain, convinced they 
had not been wise as a serpent in their late change of 
leaders, now raised the popular cry " Go ahead." The 
body was drawn out with the loss of a few scales, when 
the head interrogated the tail thus : " Why did you go 
between those stubs ? " 

" I never saw them," responded the tail. 

" No, nor felt them," retorted the body, " but we did." 

Application. 

ist. Be as wise as the serpent; id est, soon as he 
perceived he rectified his mistake. 

2d. The inverted reptile was converted and met 
with a change of leaders. 

3d. The body of the serpent represents the world 
inverted. 'Tis yours to turn the world upside down 
that it may be brought right side up. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 153 

4th. When our passions, not our faculties, guide, the 
blind lead the blind. 

5 th. Notice, when the tail led, the body went back- 
ward. Backsliding is an omen, yea, an axiom, that the 

head does not lead. 

Octogenarian. 

Many anecdotes are related of Mr. Atwell, which 
may seem in themselves unimportant, yet it is noticeable 
that he rarely dropped a witty saying that did not 
enforce a truth, and sometimes one not altogether com- 
plimentary to our human nature. 

It is told of him that he went into a store, and when 
asked " what he would like," replied, " I don't know as 
I want anything ; you'll not trust me ! " 

" Oh, yes, we will to any amount." 

" You had better not," said Mr. Atwell. 

" Why not ? " was the answer. 

" Because I am not an honest man ! " 

" Why are you not an honest man ? " 

u I will tell you why. Suppose that I go out on the 
hillside there and find a purse of money. I should, no 
doubt, do all I could to find the owner, but would there 
not be a little hope all the time that the owner could 
never be found ? " 

He was in the habit of riding a great deal, and seldom 

passed an acquaintance without a few words, usually 

something to be remembered. 
20 



154 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

A roadside incident is related by a friend who, when 
driving through the narrowest pass of a narrow road 
between a mountain and a river, suddenly came upon 
Mr. Atwell, bolt upright upon a one-horse load of hay. 
To pass each other and escape the steep bank on one 
side and the rocks on the other was a problem that, for 
the moment, looked doubtful and dangerous. 

" The straight and narrow way is best ! " said Mr. 
Atwell, as the feat was accomplished by a hair's 
breadth. 

Another is well worth recording : He happened to 
meet an acquaintance who was fond of saying sudden 
and unexpected things for the sake of enjoying the 
startled effect upon the hearers. He accosted Mr. 
Atwell, saying, " Elder, why am I made with two eyes, 
two ears, and but one tongue ? " 

" That you may hear and see twice as much as you 
say," was the reply, which was evidently pleasantly 
appreciated by the other. 

Another relates, " I once met Mr. Atwell when I was 
trying to walk on a very slippery place, and he said to 
me, " There is no danger of falling, if you can only keep 
your balance ! " 

His direct way of expressing the whole of a thought 
in a few words was once strikingly illustrated at a cer- 
tain funeral, when he began a prayer, " Lord, let us ask 
ourselves what we have done for the widow ! " The 



REV. GEORGE B. ATUEZL. 155 

well-known circumstances of the event made this single 
sentence a life lesson to every pne who heard it. 

A friend relates. "Mr. Atwell called to see my 
mother not long before she died. As he was at 
leaving I said to him, ' Mother fears dea v h. and suffers 
a great deal from the dread of it.' He turned and 
went back to her bedside and said to her, ' Have no 
fear at all, there is no need of that. Did you know 
when you were born ? You will not know when you 
die/ 

This was to her the greatest of comforts." 
Mr. AtwelTs ideas of death were expressed in a letter 
to Mrs. S. Emilia Phelps, which was published in the 
Christian Secretary, entitled 

NOT A MODEL BUT MODEST SERMON. 

Man has fallen foully, not fatally. Man had rather 
be great than good. He'd rather be rich than right- 
eous. His love of gold is stronger than his love of 
God. Earth-born and earth-bound, he builds his house 
on sand and his castle in the air. No man by going 
over to the world can win it. Judas and Demas tested 
it. Satan tempts, men that they may tempt God. 
God's voice of invitation is lost. Satan's temptation is 
listened to. Selah. 

Adam fell by trying to rise ; could not rise but could 
run ; heard and hid. Adam fell by eating, Christ stood 



156 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OJb 

by fasting. Adam ate, and Christ must drink. Bitter 
cup ! Note : nor could the cup pass, though Christ's 
prayer lay between his lips and the cup, no more than 
Joseph's silver cup could pass Benjamin's sack, what 
though he was the only guiltless one of his guilty 
brethren. 

The arrow of death is the only key that unlocks the 
door of Paradise. No way into the world but by birth, 
no way out but by death. We came into the world by 
the front door, i. e., by birth ; we go out by the back 
door, id est, by death. 

Never look forward for death nor anticipate it. 
Look back if you'd learn what death is. God told 
Moses, Thou shalt not see my face ; thou shalt see 
my back parts ; my face thou shalt not see. We may 
look back upon the past, we cannot penetrate the 
future. To understand what death is, look back, not 
forward. 

You were once an infant, that infancy died, you sus- 
tained no loss ; 'twas succeeded by childhood, that 
childhood expired, and youth shone forth in its stead ; 
nor did youth continue, but quickly passed and gave 
place for maturity, middle life. Say, did you know 
when your infancy passed away and your childhood 
commenced ? No, nor does any one know when they 
die, any more than they now know the time when 
childhood was the resurrection from our defunct 



%EK GEORGE B. ATWELL. 157 

infancy, and youth the resurrection from our short- 
lived childhood. Each state is progressive and pro- 
ductive of its superior. Christians are slow of heart to 
believe that Christ has abolished death. 

Sleep is a short death and death a long sleep. 
" Lord, if he sleep he shall do well " ; in that said his 
disciples truly. 'Twas a proverb of Menander that sleep 
was a remedy for all diseases. When death exists we 
don't, and when death ends we don't, was another pro- 
verb of the ancients. 

Adam's deep sleep represented death. When he 
awoke it prefigured his resurrection. He beheld in 
Eve his body resurrected, far more beautiful than him- 
self, though bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. 
Though from the dust, she was not made of it, nor will 
our resurrection body be made of dust or ever return 
to it. 

What though Adam was head, Eve was the crown 
of that head. The first woman was born of a man, the 
second Adam was born of a woman. 

We are part animal and part angel, half dust and 
half deity. God will take away the first that He may 
establish the second. What though God took a rib, 
the man was not robbed, for God returned the bone 
bonus. 

The following appeared not long afterwards : 



158 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

HEART. 

There is such a thing as softening of the brain and 
hardening of the heart. Man's heart is more depraved 
than his understanding. By the heart is meant the 
soul, and all its faculties. A minister s work is to break 
hard hearts and to mend broken ones. In order for 
this he should preach nothing up but Christ, nothing 
down but the devil. 

Moses wrote his laws on stone ; Solon inscribed his 
on brass; the Medes and Persians wrote theirs on 
iron. The Puritan fathers drafted their laws on blue 
paper, hence they were called " blue laws." 

But where, tell me where, does Jesus Christ write His 
laws ? 

On the heart, " I will put my laws into their hearts, 
and in their minds will I write them." Heb. x, 16. 
" I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in 
their hearts." Heb. viii, 10. 

Note : what the pericardium, id est, the heart, is to 
the human body, so is the heart to the soul. What the 
garden of Eden was to the world, so is the heart to the 
man. What the sanctum sanctorum was to the Temple, 
so is the heart to man — i. e., the most important part. 
Before the heart is changed it is the worst part of the 
man ; after it is renewed it is the best. 

What law does Christ the Lawgiver write on the 



REV. GEORGE B. ATJVELL. 159 

heart ? An exceeding broad one, yet comprehended in 
one word, Love, which fulfills the whole law, whether 
of Sinai or Olivet. The decalogue is not ten but one 
law. The four first verses speak of our love to God, 
and the remaining six of our duty to man. Love God 
and your neighbor : the fatherhood of God and the 
brotherhood of man. 

The end of the commandment is charitv. It never 
fails, never faints, never fears ; fear is cast out when 
love comes in. God is love, and charity is lovely. It 
brought God down to us in the person of His Son, and 
brings us up to God 

Still we seldom pray for it. We pray for faith — the 
disciples did — Lord increase our faith. Lord strengthen 
our hope. We pray for patience, resignation ; indeed 
we pray for all the Christian graces except this the 
greatest of them all. We seldom ask God for "love." 

The following sentiment is from that distinguished 
statesman and philosopher, Thomas Jefferson : ,k Of all 
the systems of faith which I have ever examined, I 
hesitate not to give that of Jesus Christ decidedly the 
preference. Other systems are based on the passions 
and on circumstances, but Jesus Christ goes further, — 
He builds on the heart? 

Yours as of yore, je. 84. g, b. a, 

One of his puns has been so often quoted and re- 



160 MEMORIAL SKETCHES. 

quoted as to barely escape becoming a proverb. While 
in Hartford, he met Rev. Dr. Turnbull on the street, 
who said to him, " Father Atwell, how do you keep so 
straight in your old age ?" 

" Straightened circumstances, Brother Turnbull ! " 
Puns came to him so naturally that they sometimes 
took shape in his dreams. One morning at the break- 
fast table he said, " I had a singular dream last night, 
and one which I cannot account for. I thought I met 
Elder Nash (formerly a Methodist Presiding Elder), 
and he said to me, ' You have lost all your teeth.' I 
replied, ' Take care of yours ! you'll want them to gnash 
with when you get to a certain place ! ' ' 

Then, before opening the Bible for the usual morning 
reading, he said, " Dreams are strange phenomena. 
What fragments of broken thought, and what a train 
of detached ideas float in the mind ! We awake, and 
f a change comes over the spirit of our dream.' Now, 
images as empty and visionary haunt our waking as 
well as our sleeping hours. ..This life is a dream. At 
death the bubble bursts, the spell is broken, and all 
things are real and lasting. God has connected time 
with eternity, and so linked the conduct of life with our 
state after death, that all our thoughts, words, and 
actions are drawn after us. The tree is on this side, 
but the fruit is on that. Well, have I preached enough? 
If you think I have, I'll begin to read !" 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FRATERNITY. 

It has been said of Mr. Atwell that he was a " born 
Mason/' and in a quaint little volume, printed in 1815, 
is an allusion to his father's experience, which we give 
verbatim : 

" From this time the reader will hear no more of 
Mr. Atwell preaching in the south part of Wilbraham, 
and will be naturally inclined to enquire the reason. 
We should be happy in not finding it duty to publish 
the singular cause ; but it appears right to state the 
facts. In this place the Lord revived his work with 
mighty power, and our friend's labors were greatly 
blessed among the people : great numbers could nearly 
pluck out their eyes for his sake ; but in the midst of 
all this it was discovered that he was A Free and 
Accepted Mason ! ! ! This, merely through ignorance, 
was deemed a crime of no small magnitude by some, 
and the church now called the Baptist church in Wilbra- 
ham and Monson, passed a particular vote in the case, 
which barred and bolted the door against him, and 
against all Masons. We would ask these beloved 
21 



1 62 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

brethren if they know what Masonry is ? If they 
answer in the affirmative, they are Masons themselves ; 
but if negatively, then how exists their skill to discern 
a great evil in that which they know nothing about ? 
Lord, what is man ? Immediately after this took place, 
the Lord withdrew his Spirit, and the work was greatly 
on the decline." 

The little book, after making note of his* death, which 
occurred April 10, 1814, alludes to the funeral as fol- 
lows : 

" Tuesday, 12th, his remains were carried to the 
Presbyterian meeting-house, and a solemn discourse 
was delivered by Elder J. Wightman of West Spring- 
field, to a crowded and much affected assembly. His 
body was then consigned to its mother earth with 
masonic honors. " 

The impressiveness of the ceremonies, combined 
with the force of his father's example, moved the son 
in the freshness of his sorrow to seek the nearest 
lodge, which was at East Windsor, and to be initiated 
into the mysteries of the " mystic tie." He was not an 
active mason, however, until after he settled in Pleasant 
Valley, and not especially prominent until the year 
1874, when, by the kindness of Mr. W. W. Lee, he was 
raised to the office of Grand Chaplain of Connecticut. 
His installation took place at New Haven, June 24, 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 163 

1874, two weeks previous to his eighty-second birth- 
day. 

Mr. Atwell was naturally social to the extent that 
genial and friendly intercourse with others was abso- 
lutely a constitutional need. It inspirited him like sun- 
light, and the gatherings and reunions at which his 
presence was sought and pains taken to secure, were 
among the pleasures and delights of his old age, and 
no doubt contributed much towards sustaining the 
flow of animal spirits upon which his life now almost 
depended. 

Many of the quaint blessings and prayers which he 
uttered on different occasions are preserved in the 
annals of Masonry. At a Masonic banquet he invoked 
a blessing thus : " O Lord, Adam fell by eating, Noah 
fell by drinking ; may we who are before Thee avoid 
the sin of the one and the folly of the other. Amen." 
Another : " We have left the trestle-board and now 
surround the Board of Relief. Save us from the lion's 
mouth, but may we never reject the Lion's paw. Should 
any of our fraternity lack aid, may they be enabled to 
say, Eureka ! Amen." Still another : " Make us thank- 
ful ; may we always be grateful and never be wasteful." 
And another : " The temple of Solomon had precious 
stones, the tomb of Jesus had costly spices. We have 
left the temple not for the tomb but the table, and while 



164 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

we accept Thy bounty as free mercies, wilt Thou accept 
us as free masons. Amen." 

His last utterance before the Masonic Fraternity was 
a prayer offered at the "Annual Reunion of the Masonic 
Veterans of Connecticut, holden at Waterbury, Conn., 
June 26, 1878." He was then eighty-five years old : 

" O Lord ! We cannot call Thee Father, unless we 
can call Man our Brother. 

" Permit us to look from the depths of Jacob's Well 
to the heights of Jacob's Ladder. Some are ascending* 
but the Veterans before Thee are descending. % They 
need Jacob's staff as well as his ladder to aid their 
descent. They may worship leaning on the top of that 
staff, but need the stay as well as the staff. What 
though they may be bald as was Elisha ; make them 
bold as Elijah, to mount his chariot and be carried to 
the Grand Lodge eternal in the heavens. Amen." 

Among his papers has been found a fragment, con- 
taining the following : " Wise men came from the east 
in search of light, and found it. They saw the star in 
the east, arose and followed, fearing no danger. We, in 
modern time, walk the rugged path of life, traveling 
from west to east, and meet at the same point the Magi 
of old, beneath the Royal Arch, where sits our Grand 
High Priest, our Worshipful Master, wearing a starry 
diadem. While the Mussulman cleaves to his Alcoran 
and the Hindo to his Shasta, the Mahometan bows to 
the Crescent and the Christian clings to the Cross, look 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 165 

on that Altar which sanctifies the gift ! There is the 
open Bible, the square and the compass ; we accept the 
former as the insignia of our order, and the latter as the 
ground of our faith." 

Appropriate here seems the insertion of four stanzas 
from an original poem recited at the reunion of the 
Veteran Association at New Haven, Conn., June 25, 
1879, two months after Mr. Atwell's death : 

But a saddened thought comes o'er me as these well-remem- 
bered faces 
Range themselves about our Altar to revive the sacred flame. 
Here and there I see before me empty chairs and vacant places — 
Yet not vacant quite, my Brothers, for each bears a cherished 
name. 

Whisper us, O risen Atwell ! — if but lawful for revealing — 
Tell us what may be our chances when the shining portals 
swing ; 

As the glories of the morning through the shadows are unveiling, 
And we stand beneath the Arches of the Temple of the^King. 

For we walk amid the darkness of our nature, blindly groping, 
With our either hand outstretching for some doorway to the 
Light; 

And we turn the roughened Ashlars in the Rubbish, fondly hoping 
To find amid their number the Key-stone of the right. 

Yet we have the bright example of thy life while yet among us, 
That will guide us if we follow, to the open gates above ; 

•If we heed thy steady counsel to forgive the wrongs that wrong us, 
And to win men into friendship, by our Charity and Love. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

INDIAN SUMMER. 

The " lightening before death " — what is it ? Whence 
comes the clearness of vision and brightening of facul- 
ties ? Are waiting angels over eager to bring reward ? 
Looking back to the sweet and gracious ministry of that 
last year, comes the wonder whether out of the depths 
of God's possibilities, His law of compensation may or 
may not work to His beloved a foretaste of the life 
beyond the vale. 

Pleasant things now gathered to his pathway. Cares 
and perplexities were hidden away from him, for the 
waning life was too precious for aught but cloudless 
skies and peaceful surroundings. And yet sometimes 
he knew. 

One evening, sitting in the calm of the twilight, he 
took the hand of the one who sat beside him, and said, 
■ ■ You are despondent to-night ; you are heavily bur- 
dened." 

" Why do you think so ? How do you know ?" 

" I cannot tell you how I know. I close my eyes and 
I feel it in the touch of your hand. Your burden is 



1 68 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

more for others than for yourself, but it is not as bad 
as it seems.'' 

And so it proved. 

A friend relates the following incident : 

" I met Mr. Atwell one day when I was recovering 
from a long and dangerous illness. He said to me, ' I 
am glad you are feeling so much better to-day." 

" I replied, ■ How do you know, Elder, that I am feel- 
ing better ?' 

" ' I know,' said he, ■ by the touch of your hand. You 
have been worse off than any one knew, and it will be 
a long time before you will entirely recover. You may 
live to be an aged woman before you will cease to feel 
the effects of it/ 

" This surprised me much, for I knew that he could 
have no knowledge whatever of what my condition had 
been." 

The clearness of his mental vision and growing near- 
ness to heavenly things were plainly evident from day 
to day, and the freshness of his thoughts was remark- 
able. One memorable evening in 1878 he gave a dra- 
matic recital of the history of Jacob and Esau, and the 
picture of Rebekah when Jacob obtained his brother's 
blessing, was something to be heard, for it cannot be 
described. 

He was bright and cheerful, and greatly enjoyed 
conversation with neighbors and friends. His heart 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 169 

was made glad by their appreciation, for he was beloved 
and sought by the young as well as the old. He even 
departed from his usual routine and surprised every one 
by absence of fatigue after unwonted efforts. He 
attended evening meetings and spoke with more than 
his usual impressiveness, and upon being invited to a 
reception on the evening of the thirteenth of Decem- 
ber, at the elegant home of some friends in New Hart- 
ford, he desired to go, and went. He was received and 
greeted by all with kindness and reverent affection, and 
evidently enjoyed the reunion. 

On Sunday, January 19th (and by comparing dates 
it proved to be the anniversary of the death of his 
wife), he attended church once more in New Hartford, 
and listened to a sermon from the pastor, Rev. R. H. 
Bolles. In the afternoon he accompanied him to Can- 
ton to the usual afternoon service, and preached by 
special request of Mr. Bolles, who kindly furnishes the 
following description from memory : 

FATHER ATWELL'S LAST SERMON. 

Preached at Canton, Sunday, January 19, 1879. 

" When he arose to preach, he stood erect and in 
silence for a moment and looked over the congregation 
as if in search of some one. His manner fastened 
every eye in the audience upon him with an expression 
of attention and inquisitive expectancy. Then he said, 
22 



i jo MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

* I look for Deacon Harger and Deacon Higley, for 
Isaac Mills, for Edmund Case, and many others ; but 
why should I seek the living among the dead ? ' 

The effect cannot be described. It can only be 
realized by those who saw the tears of some, and the 
manifest emotion of all the audience. He then recited 
the words of Scripture, " How much less man, that is a 
worm? and the son of man which is a worm?" He 
omitted the usual form of announcing a text, nor did he 
say where the words were to be found. 

While riding home, I asked him why he didn't tell 
the audience that his text was the 6th verse of the 25th 
chapter of Job ? 

' Because,' said he, ' I wished to awaken their curi- 
osity to hunt it up in the Bible, and so compel them to 
a searching of the Scripture.' 

His theme — which he did not announce in a set form 
of words — was, ' The unmerited love of God for the 
sinful and the unthankful.' I cannot repeat his quaint 
and original forms of expression ; they kept me wonder- 
ing and admiring throughout the discourse. It was a 
sermon to be heard. I cannot — and I doubt if any one 
could — give any adequate report or description of it to 
one who did not hear it. Perhaps those who have 
heard him frequently, however, can imagine, from the 
meager reminiscences that I am able to give, something 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 171 

of its originality and power to fix the attention and 
awaken emotion. 

He said, ' There is preaching enough on the fear of 
God, and the law of God, and the w r rath of God, but too 
little on the love of God.' One of his illustrations was 
the story of a recaptured fugitive slave, which he 
asserted to be a fact by his own personal knowledge. 

The gist of the story was : ' A master, having recap- 
tured a fugitive, had him brought before him in the 
presence of all his other slaves, and then said to him, 
1 You expect now that I shall punish you, load you 
with irons, and keep a sharp look-out that you do not 
escape from me again. But I shall do no such thing. 
I will not compel any one of my slaves to stay with me ; 
I want them to stav w T ith me and work for me, because 
they love me as a good and kind master. I have sent 
out and captured you and brought you back to tell you, 
in the presence of all these, that if you can justly charge 
me with abuse, if you can honestly say that I am not a 
good master ; in short, if you do not love your master, 
and wish to stay with him, you have my permission to 
leave.' Then the fugitive was broken into penitence, 
and he and his fellow-servants were bound to their 
master in bonds of love. 

Father Atwell's dramatic recital of this story — the 
dialogue that he carried on between the fugitive and 
master ; the description of the effect on the witnessing 



172 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

slaves, the delineation of the mercy of the master when 
only his wrath was apprehended, was inimitable and 
indescribable. 

In closing, he illustrated the love of God in regenerat- 
ing, sanctifying, and glorifying the lost sinner by the 
description of a wrecked voyager, cast, bruised and 
insensible, upon a barren and rocky shore. He is 
awakened to consciousness by the touch of a benignant 
being, who beckons him to follow. Inspired with 
wonder, he becomes conscious of how he is bruised and 
mangled and that he is too weak to rise. His guide 
takes him by the hand and raises him up, sets his feet 
securely on a rock, and he feels almost superhuman 
strength. He follows, and the way gradually changes ; 
first grass, then trees, flowers, and fruits appear; it 
grows brighter and brighter as he proceeds, and a beau- 
tiful city is seen ; it is reached, and he is led into it 
through gates of pearl ; amazed at the beauty and gran- 
deur of its structures, he inquires, 'Whose are these?' 
and is informed, ' These have been built bv the Ruler 
of this city to be occupied by those he loves.' Before 
one of the most beautiful of these structures the guide 
pauses, and the traveler inquires, * Whose is this ? ' 
The guide replies, * This is one of the many mansions 
your Heavenly Father has prepared for those who love 
him, and this one is yours. Enter in, never again to 
sin or suffer, and never to die ! ' 






REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 173 

I am painfully aware of the violence this description 
does to Father Atwell's delineation. As, by words and 
gestures, he pictured the scene, it became a real, pres- 
ent vision ; I was moved, not only to tears, but my 
whole frame shook with emotion. I do not think that 
Bunyan could have excelled it. It was more like him 
than any other author I can think of, yet it was so dif- 
ferent from Bunyan, or anything that I had heard or 
read, that it was perfectly novel and unique. The 
whole sermon and the preacher in delivering it seemed 
to glow with inspiration and supernal light. It seemed 
as if the gates of heaven were open and the golden light 
from thence gave a celestial coloring to it all. 

I was surprised that he did not appear fatigued after 
the effort, and that he was so vigorous and bright dur- 
ing our return ride. I did not apprehend then that the 
glorious vision with which he had so charmed me would 
so soon be to him a blessed and eternal Reality. 

After his departure, I believed that when he drew 
that picture in his last sermon, like the departing 
Stephen, he saw Heaven open before him." 

His constitutional resistance to anything like the 
approach of disease was so remarkable that but little 
outward change could be noted, yet behind the mar- 
shaled forces, gently and slowly, like the beloved one 
sixteen years before, his steps came down to the river 
of death. Did the heavens open and angels linger ? 

There were tender twilight talks, in which his lega- 



174 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

eies were given and bestowed : pearls of price, words 
of out-reaching tenderness, undying, yet unrepeatable. 
The burden of it all was that nothing in Christ's max- 
ims is more plainly taught than the doctrine of God's 
providence, and that safety is only found by making it 
a guide and never distrusting it. He read and wrote 
as usual, and in the Christian Secretary of Feb. 10th 
appeared the following 

RABBINICAL LEGEND.' 

When Jonathan gave his bow and quiver to his lad 
to carry back to the city, the lad much admired the 
princely bow and was minded to put to proof its power 
by actual experiment. 

He shot an arrow directly upward. Soaring beyond 
his ken, and now out of sight, he concluded 'twas lost 
and would never return. 

The shaft having spent its force, returned in a per- 
pendicular direction and smote the lad in the head. 

Piercing through hat and hair, scalp and scull, it 
whispered this truth to his brain : Young man, 'tis 
useless to shoot arrows against heaven, for two reasons : 

i. You can never hit it. 2. Your missiles will return 
on your own head. " His mischief shall return upon 
his own head, and his violent dealings shall come down 
upon his own pate." Psalms vii, 16. Saul's javelin or 
arrows could never reach David. 

George B. Atwell. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 175 

On the evening of March 4th he attended a golden 
wedding in New Hartford, and made the presentation 
of a gold-headed cane memorable by following the 
speech with a happy allusion to " Grandfather Adam's 
Cain," which started a round of puns and witty sayings 
from others present. 

His last public utterance was on Sunday, March 30th, 
when Rev. Mr. Tomkinson delivered his farewell ser- 
mon at the Methodist church in Pleasant Valley. Mr. 
Atwell pronounced the benediction, to which all listened 
and wondered, for it fell like dews from heaven. Tues- 
day, April 8th, he was made happy by calls from valued 
friends, and the thoughts suggested by his appearance 
found expression in the following : 

Since the following beautiful and touching lines were 
given to the printer, " Father Atwell" — Rev. George B. 
Atwell — long known and loved in our Zion, has passed 
to his heavenly rest. He died at Pleasant Valley, 
Wednesday, April 23, having almost completed his 86th 
year. — Ed. Sec. 

[For the Christian Secretary.] 
TO FATHER ATWELL— INDIAN SUMMER. 

BY MRS. ORRIN FITCH. 

It is lying on the hills like a dream of long ago, 
And bathing all the valley with its warm and mellow glow ; 
'Tis rustling through the branches, with a sigh as sweet as song, 
And a something, something whispers — it cannot linger long. 



176 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

There 's a vague and tender reaching — of earth up to the sky, 
A soft, uniting perfectness, that cheats the mortal eye, 
Like one so sanctified and sweet, so precious and so true, 
We know not where earth faded out or when the glory grew. 

O, summer, summer, sweet and old !— fade slowly from our way, 
We would not miss a single charm that glorifies thy day ; 
No birds may build, nor flowers bloom, and yet we surely hear 
The rustle and the radiance unfold and disappear. 

O, summer, summer, sweet and old !— f ade slowly, — for with thee 
Dear faces wait, that all too soon beyond our sight may be ; 
No birds may build, nor flowers bloom, yet leaf and bud and rose, 
We'd give them all, to feel within, one hour of their repose. 

Fade slowly — for no golden days can ever these repeat, 
No words of wisdom,. O my friend, like thine seem half so sweet ; 
But in the boundless Beautiful, with fadeless summers fair, 
I pray you meet us at the gate, and give us welcome there. 

Slowly it faded, yet the golden moments came and 
went, and one by one the jeweled hours were told. He 
was ready to depart, but the superb physique resisted, 
and brain and hand were kept in service. 

The following is his last writing : 

THE MAN AND HIS SHADOW. 

''You are like a false friend," said a man to his 
shadow ; " you follow me only when the sun shines." 

"Like a true friend," quoth the shadow, "I show 
your just dimensions, nor do I conceal your defects." 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 177 

"If you are a friend," demanded the man, "why do 
you run from me when I pursue you ?" 

"To show you that he who runs after fame chases a 
shadow which he cannot overtake." 

" Then why do you follow close to my heels when I 
run from you ? " 

"To teach you," replied the shadow, "that glory or 
fame attend those who do not run after them." 

"You are visible in prosperity and invisible in adver- 
sity," said the man. 

" I am the fac simile of yourself," responded the 
shadow ; "in me you see your own image." 

"I charge you with duplicity," answered the man ; 
" at noon you represent me as a mere dwarf ; as the 
sun declines and inclines towards the horizon, you ex- 
hibit me as taller than Saul or even Goliah. By what 
law or right do you add so many cubits to my stature ? 
As a shadow you should cast my true porportions at 
all times ; but you are fickle and changeable, bonus 
in sunshine but minus in shade and showers." 

" You cast reflections on me," said the shadow 7 ; 
" reflect now inwardly, and consider that you have an 
inward mirror as well as an outward shadow. I am 
dark, but he is light ; I show your externals, he dis- 
cerns your inner man. Beware of him, obey his voice, 
provoke him not. Exodus xxiii, 21. Agree with him 
quickly while thou art in the way with him. Remem- 
23 



178 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OE 

ber your life is a shadow, cast not from your body but 
from your soul. You cannot run fast nor far enough 
to flee from me, while I follow close at your heels. He 
follows your heart, and where you are he is. What is 
his name and his Son's name, if thou canst tell ?" 

" I think," said the man, " his name may be Con- 
science." 

Note. — Hezekiah was taught by a shadow which 
went backward, showing him that he would go back 
fifteen years into his youth. David's youth was re- 
newed like the eagle's, and he wrote a psalm prophetic 
of the degrees of the sun-dial of Ahaz. 

The pillar of cloud was as true a guide as the pillar 
of fire, and both are blended in God's wisdom. The 
person in the parable complained of his shadow without 
considering that the sun, which is the source of light, 
is likewise the parent of the shadow. 

Ministers are like their predecessors, Peter, James, 
and John, who feared when the cloud overshadowed 
them, not knowing the cloud was a shadow of good 
things to come." 

Failure of eyesight was the first indication of the 
general surrender of nature's forces. He laid down his 
newspaper with the remark, "This is a premonition." 
From that time, symptoms became alarming and family 
friends were summoned. He was pleased to have them 
near him, and most tender and sacred words were spoken. 



REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 179 

On the afternoon of Saturday, April 19th, he rallied, 
and when Rev. Mr. Maine, then of Colebrook, called, 
he desired to see him. Said Mr. Maine, " Father 
Atwell, you are going to a better life ! " 

With a smile, he replied, " Do you really believe in 
the better life ? " 

" / do" was the answer. 

" Then impart it to others ! " 

He still continued to rally, was able to talk more, and 
in conversation with Rev. Mr. Bolles, later in the after- 
noon, the old twinkle came back to his eye and the old 
smile to his lips. Said he, "As ye go, heal the sick ; 
that's your commission. If there's to be a miracle, 
there'll be no death. I want to ask you a question. 
If we were alone it wouldn't matter how you answered, 
but I want you to answer for this young man to hear. 
Did God or the devil afflict Job ? " 

" God permitted the devil to afflict Job." 

"Did the devil have a good purpose in afflicting 
Job?" 

" No, but God had a good purpose in permitting it. 
The devil claimed that if God removed the self-interest 
from Job's life, Job would curse God. God said to the 
devil, ' I give him up to you except his life. Try your 
experiment.' The devil tried and failed." 

"There, Mr. Owen," said Mr. Atwell, " You hear 



180 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

that. Don't forget it!" Said Mr. Bolles, " Can you 
sleep ? Do you suffer much pain ? " 

"The body is wearing out, heart and flesh are fail- 
ing." 

" But you can say, ' It is well with my soul/ " 

The reply was, " I can say that it is well with Him 
who died to save my soul:' 

Sunday was a hopeful day. He sat in his easy chair, 
erect and upright as ever, and his voice sounded full and 
strong. He talked much, and among other things said 
the time would come when for a man to live one hun- 
dred years would not be considered out of the natural 
course. This was the last rallying. Monday brought 
failing strength, followed by much apparent suffering, 
borne, as was his wont, without complaint. 

On the morning of Wednesday, April 23d, it was 
evident that the end was near. His physician was 
summoned, and remained with him until the last. The 
spirit was ready to depart, but nature's final surrender 
was like mortal combat. In one of the intervals of 
spasms he looked up gratefully to the physician, and 
said, " Doctor, I believe you do know something ! '! 

To his children he said, " I can say nothing more 
than I have already said. It is needful for you that I 
go away, and I want you to behave with firmness and 
fortitude. Think that father has gone home. You 
will see the hand of Providence in it." 



REV. GEORGE B. AT WELL. 181 

Rev. Mr. Betts, the Episcopal clergyman of Pine 
Meadow, a very valued friend, called and read the com- 
mendatory prayer, to which he responded " Amen." 

One of his children said to him, " I wish I could go 
with you, father ! M 

He replied, "The time has not come ; it wouldn't be 
worth while." 

" Oh, father, don't you want me ? " 

14 Darling, I want you in Heaven." 

Another said, " Do you know me, father ? M 

It was now difficult for him to speak, but this could 
be gathered : 44 Certainly, certainly, I remember dis- 
tinctly " 

He called for water, and after swallowing it, said, 
44 Beautiful water ! " 

A little later he said, " This is death ! " 

The last hour was peaceful. Three times the pulsa- 
tion seemed to cease, and three times the strong heart 
beat again, then slower and slower, until a little past 
four o'clock it gave itself up, sweet and trusting, to its 
Maker. 



CHAPTER XV. 

BURIAL. 

The funeral was on Sunday, April 27th, at the 
Methodist church in Pleasant Valley. Six ministers 
were present : Rev. R. H. Bolles of New Hartford, and 
Rev. R. H. Maine, then of Colebrook ; Rev. Mr. Adams 
of New Hartford, and Rev. Mr. Peffers of Barkhamsted, 
Congregational clergymen ; Rev. Mr. Betts of Pine 
Meadow, and Rev. Mr. Moffitt of the Methodist church 
in Pleasant Valley. The services consisted of tributes 
from each of the ministering brethren present, and 
appropriate hymns, sung by a fine quartette choir. 
Rev. R. H. Bolles, as pastor of the New Hartford 
church, conducted the exercises, and gave an affecting 
tribute beginning, " My father, my father, the chariot 
of Israel and the horsemen thereof ! " and Rev. R. H. 
Maine dwelt with much feeling upon the memories 
growing out of thirty years' acquaintance, and associa- 
tion in the ministry. 

The Masonic services at the grave were beautiful and 
impressive. They were conducted by Mr. W. W. Lee, 
and from his own description of the scene the following 
is taken: 



1 84 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

" There has been no such gathering in the Valley since 
Captain E. R. Lee was buried on Good Friday, 1862. 
From Winsted, Wolcottville, Thomaston, Collinsville, 
Unionville, New Hartford, and all the hillsides around, 
they came, and even from Hartford and Meriden. 
More than one hundred and fifty Masons were in the 
procession, and it was actually impossible for the people 
to obtain admittance into the Methodist church in 
which the services were held. Windows and doors 
were thrown open, so that those might hear who could 
not see. Six clergymen were in attendance, all testi- 
fying to the worth, beauty, and fitness of the life 
which had closed so recently ; yet the tenor of their 
remarks was not of sorrow, but rather of rejoicing and 
triumph. Brother Lee, P. G. M., spoke in feeling 
terms of him who was the friend of his boyhood and 
confidant and counsel of his riper years, and also for the 
boys who had gone from that village, and who would 
hear with sadness the news of his death. He had come 
to help bury him who had helped to bury so many of his 
(the speaker's) kindred, and who, among the many noted 
clergymen in all the fraternity, he (S. M. Lee) had 
deemed it most fitting to select for Grand Chaplain, 
when the brethren had selected him for Grand Master 
of Masons in Connecticut 

There was present no more sincere mourner than 
Chu Kia You, a Chinese youth (one of those who were 



REV GEORGE B. ATJVELL. 185 

sent to this country a few years since) who has been 
educated in the Elder s family. 

Although the services were two hours or more in 

length, no one seemed to be tired or uneasy. At the 

grave Br Ltt. by request of Grand Master Bullock, 

and in accordance with the unanimous wish of Northern 

Star Lodge, conducted the service. It was a scene 

that will not soon be forgotten. The speaker had come 

to the half -century post in life, and had come to bury 

friend of his childhood and youth. A few of the 

f the "Anti-Masonic war" had come to 

bury one of their fast thinning members, now well 

vn the hill. Next w r ere the men of grizzly hair and 

beard, telling that they had reached the summit ; then 

the strong and sturdy men of elastic step ; and still 

the : stepping forward in life ; youth, 

manhood, and old age — the three stages, not a picture, 

but a reality. The voice of the speaker rose clear and 

strong, and was distinctly heard by the hundreds pres- 

ent Mingled with the speaker's voice were the twitter 

: the returning spring warblers and the ripple of the 

Tunxis on its banks, while the sighing of the gentle 

breeir in the pines seemed as if prepared for the time 

and act The hush of the quiet spring day was in 

keeping with the. scene ; long the friends lingered as 

if loth to leave the spot where they had buried the 

24 



1 86 MEMORIAL SKETCHES OF 

Christian, Pastor, Friend, Sage, Philosopher, and Mason. 
So closes the record of a life devoted to God and fellow- 
men." 

IN MEMORIAM— REV. GEORGE B. ATWELL. 

BY REV. A. G. PALMER, D. D. 

As^comes the shock of grain, with ripened ear, 
Of wheaten sheaf or stalk of golden maize, 
Under the genial heat of summer days 

And nights, in Autumn's mellow atmosphere, 

Matured and ready for the harvest song : 

So, on beyond the "three-score years and ten," 
The farthest average time allowed to men, 

Did this dear, blithe old man his age prolong, — 

Genial in temper, saintly, made by grace, 
A Christian pastor, wise and " apt to teach," 
Devout in manner, sanctified in speech, 

With chastened soberness upon a face 
That, under nature's role alone, had won 
With ease the prize of sparkling wit and fun. 

Alas, that we shall see that face no more, 
Nor longer read his terse, quaint epigrams, 
His scathing satires of religious shams, 

His puns of humor, an exhaustless store ! 

Simple and childlike, he had no pretence 
Of piety above the common grade 
Of sinners saved by sovereign grace and made 

Saints by imputed righteousness, and hence 



REV. GEORGE £. ATWELL. 187 

His preaching, while not eloquent, profound 
In words of cultured wisdom from the schools, 
As gauged by theologic forms and rules, 

Was yet " in doctrine incorrupt and sound.'' 
Last of a race of apostolic men — 
His like and theirs, when shall we see a^ain ? 



THE END. 






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